


Psycho Pass: Coliseum

by SoelleKhiss



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: Anime, Crime, F/M, Fanfiction, Manga, Psycho Pass - Freeform, Psycho-pass - Freeform, Saw/Jigsaw Tribute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-23 13:06:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 33,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14333073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoelleKhiss/pseuds/SoelleKhiss
Summary: Enforcer Shinya Kogami fights for his life and his sanity in this very dark, very gritty tale of revenge. When the daughter of a prominent businessman goes missing, the Ministry of Welfare Public Safety Bureau sends in their best team. Division 1 is split into two groups to investigate two potential crime scenes. Inspector Akane Tsunemori and Enforcers Shinya Kogami and Tomomi Masaoka find themselves at the mercy of a twisted madman with a profound understanding of the MWPSB and the Sybil System.





	1. Round 1

# 

Closing his eyes, Shinya Kogami settled back into the plush sofa cushions and rested his head on a throw pillow. With a deep breath, he grinned and breathed in the faint scent of Akane’s perfume from the fabric. It was early morning, and her Tokyo apartment was dark except for the night light that he had left on in the kitchen. The Enforcer exhaled and swept his arms back behind his head. Despite the familiarity of his surroundings, he was restless and unsettled. 

Freshly showered and dressed for work, he had spent an hour pacing the livingroom, but could not shake the uncanny feeling that he was in danger. The potent sense of gloom and doom darkened his every thought, keeping him from sleep and from the warmth of being by Akane’s side. Aggravated with himself, Kogami sat up on the sofa and scowled at the shadows.

Activating his wristcom, Kogami scrolled through a selected holofeed in an attempt to alleviate his suspicions. He intently studied the blurry images of a dark, ambiguous figure, who had tripped the cymatic scanners in a dozen or more areas of the city. Before MWPSB personnel could arrive on the scene, however, the perp would vanish from the scene, bypassing surveillance and without tripping any other scanners. 

Division 1’s system analyst, Shion Karanomori, had identified that the individual was using an intricate, military-grade cyber tech to distort the picture, making it nearly impossible to identify him. Presented with a challenge, Shion was undeterred and swore to unmask the perpetrator as a matter of honor and pride.

Staring boldly into the camera, the suspect was playing a tactical cat and mouse game with the Ministry of Welfare’s Public Safety Bureau. With every random appearance, he taunted the CID and dared them to play along with his willful game. Only the perp’s actions were not random. Though facial recognition was not possible, Kogami recognized the man from his posture, the way he carried himself, and the presence of attitude exuding from him. 

He activated a separate file and read the information as it scrolled across the screen. Kogami was convinced the man in the images was none other than James “Jaimie” Grigori—the bodyguard of Chimari Roninn, the CEO of a powerful mental care conglomerate, with close ties to the government. She was also the younger sister of former MWPSB Inspector Masato Roninn. 

Reading the last name in the file made Kogami’s mouth go dry and sent a chill down his spine. During his tenure with the MWPSB, Roninn’s Division 5 held one of the highest success ratios of solved cases. His achievement, however, came at a terrible cost: the lives of Enforcers, a record number, who died in the line of duty or who were murdered. The latter were killed by Roninn himself or on his orders to further his ambitions.

In a sting operation that nearly cost his own life, Kogami brought Roninn down in disgrace. Despite the considerable family fortune, their assets and resources, the fallen Inspector was sentenced to life in an isolation cell for his crimes. Before being carried away to a facility, one ironically owned and funded by his family, Roninn had these words for Kogami: “ _The wolf knows not that he is a wolf, until the sheep reject him, and the shepherd tells him so. You will be brought to heel. See you soon, Shinya._ ” 

Even though he had been locked away for months, but Kogami could not shake the feeling that the crazed man had already reached beyond the glass of his isolation cell into the outside world using his sister as an extension of his madness. 

Roninn’s reach was clearly proven at the Gotemba Equestrian Center during the National Dressage Qualifier when his sister Chimari and her bodyguard introduced themselves through an chance accident on the highway that took his little sister’s pony out of competition. When that was not enough of a disruption, Chimari ordered her pilot to land her private helicopter beside a riding ring full of small children on ponies. Thankfully, Mi-Yeon was riding the unflinching stallion, Touch the Sky, who proceeded to perform despite the chaos.

Nostrils flared in fury at the memory, Kogami struggled to control his uneven breathing. While he harbored no fear for himself and welcomed any challenge from the disgraced Inspector, he was afraid for his family. The images of this mysterious man were popping up all over the city in places where his mother would go. 

Kogami was the only one who noticed the singular pattern in the randomness. His uneasiness had been summarily dismissed by his peers as bias and paranoia.

_And there it is_ , he thought. 

The unsettled feeling that had been haunting him was self-doubt, coupled with an unrelenting worry of being caught off guard by a dangerous opponent. Kogami deactivated his wristcom and sat back in frustration. 

_Maybe I am being paranoid._

An abrupt, rhythmic vibration rattled the stillness. Akane had left her wristcom in the livingroom on the coffee table. Kogami picked it up to silence it. He was afraid that the noise might wake Akane, who could be a light sleeper as dawn approached. The indicator identified the caller as Ginoza.

Kogami sighed and shook his head. The Senior Inspector knew they were together and seemed intent on doing whatever he could to remind them of the delineation in rank between Enforcers and Inspectors. It was a line that Akane and he had crossed, never to look back again, no matter the cost. Still, Ginoza persisted.

The hour was late, so Kogami refused to answer the call, mostly out of stubbornness rather than out of respect for Akane’s privacy. With a final muted ring, the wristcom was silent. As he put the communication device back on the coffee table, his own wristcom lit up with an incoming call. It was Ginoza, again.

He thought about ignoring the call out of spite, but his growing sense of unease required that he take action. Calling Akane before the dawn, well before the start of her shift, was strange, but having missed her only to call Kogami immediately afterward was an even greater cause for concern.

“Inspector Ginoza?” Kogami said. 

“Kogami, is Inspector Tsunemori there with you?” The question was academic, as the answer was already known by both of them.

“She’s sleeping.”

“You’ll need to wake her up then,” Ginoza said, a coolness in his tone. “Chief Kasei has summoned Division 1 for an urgent case.”

“At this hour of the morning?”

“I think you’ll find this to be of special interest to you.” Ginoza paused dramatically. “Mr. Kurosawa’s eldest daughter Etsuko is missing.”

Kogami’s eyes narrowed. “I’m listening.”

“The last GPS coordinates on her phone came from an abolitionist block downtown and a warehouse district on the edge of town.”

“How is that possible? She can’t be at both locations simultaneously.”

“I’m inclined to agree. Discretion will be paramount, Kogami, not just to save Mr. Kurosawa’s reputation but for safety’s sake. I’ve dispatched Enforcer Masaoka to the abolitionist block. Inspector Tsunemori and you are to meet him there within the hour. Kagari, Kunizaka, and I will investigate the warehouse. Wake, Inspector Tsunemori and get moving.” 

Kogami sat up slowly. The unsettling chill that crawled along his spine spread to the rest of his body. Ginoza’s call was ominous enough, but the weight of it stirred that uneasiness within him into a near frenzy. 

Masahiro Kurosawa was a powerful and prominent businessman, who had taken a keen interest in Kogami. While his personal motives toward the Enforcer were mostly altruistic, the businessman’s company Kurosawa Industries benefited from a relationship with Kurosawa’s brother, who was the Minister of Economy. This boon, in turn, granted access to the equally powerful Ministry of Welfare, which on rare occasions provided the wealthy businessman use of the MWPSB as a private police force to further his interests.

Flipping the collar of his shirt, Kogami stood up and took his tie from the back of the couch. It didn’t matter to him what Kurosawa’s ambitions were so long as the man acted within the framework of the law. The technology magnate had been good to him and his family without requiring any particular favoritism or displays of loyalty. Even his occasional request for MWPSB assistance was used sparingly and for the benefit of the public good, particularly a segment of society that the Sybil System ignored—the underdog.

Kogami personally knew Etsuko, the eldest daughter, who was as morally upright and selfless as her father. She was slated to inherit his profitable technology company upon his retirement. With the heavy security that surrounded the Kurosawa family, an abduction for ransom was unlikely to be worth the trouble or even profitable. There had to be another motive.

After loosely knotting his tie, Kogami ran a hand through his tousled black locks in an attempt to dismiss his sense of foreboding. He was in an irritable mood as he went to the bathroom. Turning on the shower, the Enforcer ran his hand through the water to test the temperature. Satisfied, he made his way to Akane’s bedroom. 

From the doorway, hands in his pockets, he could not help but smile. Watching Akane sleep had become a favorite pastime. It was one of the few times when she was truly unguarded and quietly content. No naive questions. No awkward verbal outbursts. No imploring looks that reduced him to nothing more than a compliant lapdog. With a snort, he went to the edge of the bed and tenderly brushed the ruffled brown bangs from her face. 

Kneeling beside the bed, Kogami longed to call her name, but didn’t want to disturb the peace of her slumber. He sat for a moment, just looking at her until urgency and duty nagged at him. She would be furious if he prolonged getting to the scene. 

“Akane?” he whispered, leaning over her. Kogami laughed as she stirred lethargically beneath him. “Akane.”

One slender arm reached out like a tentacle and grabbed him by the neck. She pulled him in close to her for a passionate, morning kiss. “What are you doing out of bed?”

“Gino called.”

“Ginoza?” Akane yawned and stretched her arms, but made no effort to leave the warmth of her sheets.

“We’ve got a case.

“I think he does this on purpose,” she whispered.

“Kurosawa’s eldest daughter, Etsuko, is missing.”

“What?” Akane’s tenuous grip on his neck dragged her from the mattress, and she fell out of bed, landing partially in his lap, face first, and partially on the floor. She groaned as the cold made her shiver. “I need a shower.”

“Water’s already running.”

Kogami gently steadied Akane on her feet as she stumbled toward the sound of the running water. Her fluffy, yellow socks slid from beneath her as she walked, so he remained close. Trailing her to the bathroom, he lingered in the doorway as she slipped out of the matching yellow nightie. A confessed voyeur when it came to her, he pulled himself away and closed the door.

With an ominous rumble, thunder rolled in the distance. Kogami caught a distant flash of lightning through the balcony window. A storm was moving in over the city, which did little to dismiss his simmering paranoia. Intent on preparing some breakfast before heading out on the case, he filled the kettle with water from the tap and set it on the stove.

# # # #

“Gino, it’s Grigori. I know it’s him!” Kogami slammed the car door in frustration. Handing an extra cup of coffee to Akane, he brought up the grainy, holographic images from the surveillance footage on his wristcom to share with the senior Inspector.

“There’s no evidence to support your claims,” Ginoza replied. His voice was cold, even over the wristcom. “James Grigori has been out of the country with his client CEO Chimari Roninn for nearly a month.”

“Gino? Just listen—”

“Kogami, a rogue Inspector is a taint on all of us at the Ministry of Welfare,” Ginoza said. “I understand your concerns, but you’re being unduly paranoid, which can’t be a good thing even with your clouded psycho pass. Focus on the case at hand. The man in these images is just a person of interest. Nothing more.”

“A person of interest who simultaneously tripped the cymatic scanners in this office complex and a warehouse nearly an hour away? That doesn’t strike you as odd?”

“For the moment, no. Is Inspector Tsunemori there?”

“Yes, sir,” Akane said. She gave Kogami a sympathetic smile as she held a blue detective’s jacket over her head to shield herself from the light drizzle falling from the overcast skies.

“The building you are headed to was an insurance business 30 years ago. No one has been on the premises for a decade or more,” Ginoza said. “Three months ago it was purchased by an anonymous buyer.”

“I read the report on the way here,” Akane said. “They intend to build an isolation facility on the grounds.”

“The owners have granted the CID temporary access to the security system. I’m sending the code to Kogami. It will get you into the building and any restricted areas without any trouble.”

“There’s no on-site security?”

“None. It was deemed too costly, especially when the building was abandoned and officially slated for demolition. If you find anything out of the ordinary, report back to me at once.” 

“Yes, sir.”

Kogami made his way to the black paddy wagon and the familiar silhouette standing in its shadow on the other side of the street. “Pops?”

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Masaoka said.

“You have the nerve to say that to me after the Kurouma Theatre case?” Kogami rolled his eyes in feigned disgust. “Didn’t think you could be that cruel, old man. Guess Ginoza comes by his cynicism honestly.”

“Hey now, it’s just an observation.” The veteran Enforcer took the cup of coffee from Akane with a respectful nod. “Thank you, missy.”

“Just the way you like it, Mr. Masaoka. Black, no sugar, with a teaspoon of honey.”

“And maybe a little something extra,” Kogami whispered.

Masaoka’s eyes narrowed beneath his heavy eyebrows, and he sipped at the coffee. “Southern Comfort.” He smiled and saluted them with the coffee cup. “Now that hits the spot.”

“I take you got the case file?” Kogami asked.

“And overheard Inspector Ginoza’s assessment.”

Kogami snorted softly. “He thinks I’m being paranoid. What do you think?”

“When it comes down to your intuition, I’ve learned to duck and run.”

“The international travel paperwork is all in order,” Akane said, scrolling through the documents. “Says on the application that Chimari Roninn is looking for investors in a new venture for the family business. Kogami, I don’t see the connection with Etsuko Kurosawa’s disappearance and the Roninn family?”

“There’s no love lost between them,” Kogami said. He stared up at the deteriorating 10-story office building in front of them. The boarded-up structure of concrete and glass jutted out of the ground like the nightmarish rendering of a gothic mausoleum. With the exception of a few street lights on the corner, the surrounding area was dark and dismally devoid of life.

“That’s the understatement of the year,” Masaoka said. “If this was feudal Japan, they’d be at war. A bloody one, too.”

“Do you really think so, Mr. Masaoka?”

“Hisao Roninn was the patriarch of the family and built the business from the ground up with ground-breaking innovations in mental care. He was well known as a benevolent man who was honorable in his business dealings, well-respected by his partners, and trusted by the public. In fact, Kurosawa and he were good friends.”

“What happened to end all of that?” 

“It’s no secret, Inspector. When Roninn’s children, Masato and Chimari, came of age, they usurped control of the company under the urging of their mother and took the family business in a very different direction.”

“Like what exactly?” Kogami asked as they made their way toward the complex. “Do I even want to know?”

“There’s a dark side to the mental health and care industry. The Roninn family made it even darker, specializing in humane restraint, interrogation techniques, and potential military applications.”

“If there was ever a sadist for the Sibyl System, Roninn was the poster child.” Hands in his pockets, Kogami looked around the front entrance for signs of recent activity.

“Kurosawa did what he could for his old friend, but Hisao ended up locked away in a private isolation facility, owned by the family of course, and no one’s seen or heard from him ever since.”

“Urban legends, pops?”

“When you went to work under that madman, I checked into it. The story’s true, Ko. Father and son are locked up in the same facility. Shakespeare couldn’t have written a better irony for the stage.”

“I know he’s a smart man,” Akane said, “but he’d have to be a genius to orchestrate a kidnapping from his isolation cell.” As they came to the door, she used the heel of her hand to brush the grime and dust from the recessed security panel.

“Stranger things have happened.” Kogami whispered. He cued his wristcom and entered the access code. Responding to Akane’s skeptical half stare, he said, “What? I would never have believed that a ghost would drop a chandelier on my head a few weeks ago, but it happened.”

Masaoka chuckled at them and opened the door for Akane and Kogami. “Let’s hope the ghosts in this case have all quietly left the building.”

The air inside the small vestibule was stagnant from a lack of human activity. Pushing through the doors and onto the main floor, Kogami craned his neck up and around to take in the breath-taking expanse of the office tower and its multiple tiers of balconies. He circled in place to take in the full view of the structure and marveled at the complexity of the architecture.

“This place is massive,” Masaoka said, shining his flashlight down a long gallery. His voice echoed in the emptiness. With only the emergency lighting left on, the scuffed, dingy floors were covered in dust and shadows. 

“According to the current blueprints, the upper floors have all been boarded up in preparation for demolition,” Akane said, looking around the spacious mall area. She reviewed the 360-degree map with Kogami, who peered over her shoulder. “The stairwells were either sealed or removed to prevent accidental access.”

“This place has definitely seen better days,” Kogami said.

The expansive ground floor and towering tiers were lined with darkened, hollowed-out alcoves, which once housed offices in an open-floor design. This architectural feat made the interior appear much larger on the inside than the exterior of the building. Decades of dust and dirt crunched beneath Kogami’s feet. The discolored floor tiles were arranged in a checkered pattern of red and white like a chessboard.

“Looks like that maintenance entrance we came through is the only accessible door,” Masaoka said. “Makes me feel like a gladiator going into the Colosseum. One way in and only way out, if you got lucky.”

“ _Ave, Imperator, morituri te salutant_.” 

“What’s that?”

“Latin,” Kogami replied with a smirk. “Wasn’t that the language of your day, pops?”

“Hey now, whatever happened to respecting your elders?” Masaoka laughed at the playful jest. “What’s it mean?”

“Hail, Emperor, those who are about to die salute you. It’s what the condemned criminals said as they entered the Colosseum, most of them for the first and last time.”

“Kogami, that’s not very reassuring.” Akane’s wristcom lit up with an incoming call.

“Gino?” Kogami asked. “Always micromanaging.”

“No, it’s Shion,” Akane said. “I asked her if she could clean up those surveillance images using some new program she designed.”

“Inspectors, Enforcers, on this call, who’s the greatest system analyst of them all?” 

Kogami laughed. “That would be you, Queen of the Analysts.”

“You better believe it.” Shion chuckled. “I got your request, Akane. I did a comparison of data analyst to compare those cloudy photos with other surveillance footage from the MWPSB database.”

“What did you find?”

“Inspector Ginoza is never going to live this one down. Low and behold...Enforcer Shinya Kogami wins the prize for justified paranoia.”

“It’s Grigori, isn’t it?” Kogami growled. He leaned over Akane’s shoulder and stared at the images as they scrolled across her wristcom. Though the images remained somewhat grainy, Shion had superimposed other images of James Grigori over them for a comparison.

“I can’t be 100% certain,” Shion said, “but the computer model is calling this a 99.8% statistical probability. Shall I—”

“Shion?” Akane said. “Shion?” She glanced up at Kogami and then Masaoka. “That’s weird. The link went dead.”

“Mine’s dead, too. Someone’s jamming the signal.”

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Masaoka whispered, reaching for his Dominator.

“Starting to feel a little claustrophobic, pops,” Kogami said. 

“That makes two of us.”

“Three,” Akane said.

“Let’s head back outside.” Shoulder to shoulder with Masaoka, Kogami kept Akane shielded between them.

A frenzy of humming erupted from the shadowy alcoves nearby them. The hissing noise reverberated from the confines of smaller, receptionist cubicles on the ground floor. A dozen black and red security drones raced from the darkness and cut off any access to the door. They formed a perimeter in front of the only exit. 

“Unless the MWPSB got a new color scheme, those aren’t ours,” Masaoka said. Putting a cautious hand on Kogami’s shoulder, he maneuvered the group away from the door.

Painted black and detailed with menacing streaks of red that outlined their metallic frames, the front line of drones moved toward them. In unison, they extended their thin, spindle arms, which tapered into a pair of sharpened rotary blades. Creating an intense whirring noise, the knives began to spin at high speed as the drones slowly advanced.

“That’s definitely not the home team,” Masaoka said. “Run!”

Kogami grabbed Akane by the arm and led them at a sprint away from their only exit and deeper into the expansive office building. “Akane, find us another way out of here.”

“We’re running away from the only exit,” she replied breathlessly. “No elevators. No stairwells. All access points were removed to facilitate the collapse of the building.”

“Wristcoms are definitely jammed,” Masaoka said. “Whoever arranged this little dance wanted to make sure we stayed for the party.” 

With the line of drones in pursuit, they ran to the end of the long gallery, which ended in a crescent-shaped drop into a subsection of the building. With no safety railing to prevent a fall, three deactivated escalators sat perched on the edge and led directly down to the lower floor sixty feet below. On both sides of the expansive gallery, two sloping ramps ran the circular perimeter of the outer walls, providing the only secondary means down to the next level. 

Kogami looked over his shoulder. During their desperate run, the number of pursuing drones had increased from a dozen to over thirty. “I’ll go down first to check it out,” he said. “They can’t use the escalators and going around on the ramps will cut their numbers temporarily.” He started down the steep angle of the escalators at a run. 

Near the bottom, he jumped onto the smooth hand railing and slid down the last twenty feet, rolled, and came up in a defensive stance with the Dominator in his hands.

The sub-level floor was also arrayed in a semi-circular pattern that was eighty yards from side to side. Located on the northernmost side of the building, the chamber was a large atrium that must have served as the main entrance for the public. A row of glass doors, each heavily sealed beneath plastic, lined the north wall. 

The emergency lighting was dimmer here. Kogami was forced to draw his flashlight and hold it in combination with the Dominator to see. Like the level above, the floor was covered with checkered tiles, red and white, reminiscent of a massive chessboard, and he was a pawn. As the drones closed in above, he hoped that their current dilemma was some discrepancy in the building security.

Half hidden in the shadows of the upper floor, a dozen yards behind the escalators, four large doors sealed off any access back into the infrastructure of the building. Unlike the rest of the building, the construction appeared to be new. The smell of freshly cut oak permeated the air above the stale smell of dust. Four red lights glowed above each door as a warning against transgression.

“Ko? It’s getting a little tight up here,” Masaoka said, keeping Akane at his back.

“It’s clear.” 

Masaoka ran down the stairs with Akane to join him. “Find a way out?”

“I‘m not sure. Check out those four doors leading back into the building.”

“I see them. Think it’s a trap?”

“Can’t tell yet, and then there are those doors over there.” Kogami nodded over his shoulder to the entrance draped in plastic.

Akane ran for the glass doors. “I can see the street lights—”

“Akane, don’t!” Kogami shouted. “Those aren’t streetlights!” He grabbed for her as she reached out for the plastic and pulled it aside. Rigged to a trigger that armed the fuse as the construction sheet was pulled back, an explosive charge hidden behind the plastic detonated. 

There was no time to safely react for himself, so Kogami threw his arms over his face and stepped between the blast and Akane. Set for an interior blast, the plated, security glass shattered inward as the concussion knocked them both to the ground.

“Kogami!” Masaoka shouted. “Akane!”

Stunned by the proximity of the explosion, Kogami hit the floor hard, slamming his head on the tile. Knocked senseless, he laid sprawled on the floor as the roar of the explosion reverberated through the chamber and deafened him. 

“Kogami!”

He heard Akane’s voice as if shouted from a great distance. Raising his head from the debris-covered floor, Kogami struggled for clarity through a haze of muddled thoughts and blurry vision. He could see the building entrance doors with jagged glass hanging in the frames and the metal, blast-scored plates on the other side. It was a simple, but effective trap. Rigging the explosives between the glass and the metal plates increased the potency of the blast by buffering it to produce the ultimate spread and effect.

Furious at Akane’s recklessness, Kogami let his ire chew away at the dizziness plaguing him. He felt a pinch of pressure at his abdomen, but ignored it in his ire. As he shoved her hands away and tried to sit up, however, the pinch became a sharp, gut-wrenching pain that nearly rendered him unconscious. 

“Kogami, be still,” Akane said.

“She’s right, Ko. Now’s not the time to be stubborn. Don’t move.”

Still staggered by the blast, Kogami looked down in horror at two-foot piece of security glass that had impaled him in the lower, left flank of his torso.

“We can’t just leave that sticking out of him like that,” Akane said. She held a hand over her left cheek. Blood trickled between her fingers from a gash left behind in the wake of the explosion. Pulling her sleeve down over her hand to protect her fingers from the glass, she reached out to remove the the glass shard.

“Don’t touch it!” Kogami screamed in pain. “Haven’t you done enough!” He laid his head back on the ground and struggled to breathe through the intense pain. “Masaoka?”

“I’m here, Ko.” Masaoka gave Akane a disconcerting look. “Watch for those drones, missy. This case has gone from bad to worse. Go on now. Just stay close.” Turning his attention back to Kogami, he asked, “Can you raise your back. Even just a little.”

Kogami grit his teeth and complied, knowing what the veteran Enforcer was trying to do. “Is it embedded in the floor?”

“Doesn’t look like it went all the way through.”

“Pull it out.”

“Ko, that might not be the best idea. If the glass breaks while it’s inside you, even a little, you’ll bleed internally, if you’re not already. Pulling it out might make things worse.”

“Worse is coming, pops. I can’t move like this. Those drones will be here any minute.” Kogami laid his head on the floor as the room spun before his eyes. He felt cold and grit his teeth, recognizing the first signs of shock.

“You’ve got a point.” Masaoka took a knee beside him. “Ready?”

“Just do it.”

“Right.” Masaoka took a firm hold on the glass shard with his prosthetic hand and gave it a forceful yank.

Kogami gasped, sucking in his breath. The razor sharp glass cut flesh going out as it had on the way in. Instinctively he placed his hand over the wound and applied pressure, but the blood trickled through his fingers. He set his jaw to keep his teeth from chattering and fought to remain conscious.

“They’re coming!” Akane shouted. The first of the drones appeared at the top of the escalators. “They’re bottled up at the top of the escalators and can’t get down.”

“Won’t take them long to discover the ramps,” Kogami said. “Should slow them down.”

Akane stepped back. With her Dominator held in one hand, she offered the other hand to Kogami, but he refused it, leaning on Masaoka as he got to his feet.

“Ko,” Masaoka scolded. “The girl just made a bid for the doors. She couldn’t have known they were rigged. Settle down. We don’t need this right now.”

Akane’s cheeks flushed in humiliation. “Kogami’s right,” she said with hesitation, “they’re bunching up at the ramps. We’ve got time, but what do we do with it? We’re trapped. And my Dominator isn’t working.”

“Dammit, the Dominators, too?” Masaoka said. “Kogami?”

Kogami heard their voices distantly, as if coming through a dense fog. He glanced down at his Dominator. It felt so heavy in his hands. The usually blue lights on the heel of the gun were dark, indicating that it was not functioning. He put his finger on the trigger, but got no reaction.

“Ko?”

“Not working.” 

“What about those doors behind the escalators?” Akane asked. “Do you think they’re booby trapped, too?”

Kogami slowly looked up, desperately trying to stay conscious. One of the four lights was now green. “The green light,” he said, his voice weakening. “All four were red a few minutes ago. I’ll check...” He pulled himself away from Masaoka and stumbled toward the first door on the right side.

“Kogami, be careful,” Akane said.

“A little too late for that, don’t you think, Inspector?” he jeered. Quickly examining the door, Kogami didn’t see any obvious fuses or triggers that might indicate the presence of hidden explosives. 

The humming of servomotors and whirring blades gave notice that the drones were gathering behind them. There was no time for a more thorough examination. Bowing his head against the wooden frame, he swallowed the coppery taste of blood rising in the back of his throat and turned the knob to open the door. The warm glow of interior lighting flooded the darkness surrounding him. 

The room beyond the door was a sharp contrast to the disheveled interior of the abandoned office complex. Freshly painted and furnished with widescreen monitors, decorative wall scrolls, and serene pastoral prints, there wasn’t the slightest bit of dust or debris to be found. 

A spacious lounge with comfortable, upholstered chairs, a love seat, and a sofa beckoned him to come rest. The furniture matched the peaceful olive green hue of the walls and throw rugs on the floor. Planters and vases of plants lined the walls in a fertile theme of growing things.

“Better get inside before they get here,” Masaoka said. “If those drones are like our models, they can break through doors with little effort. We can make a barricade for ourselves. Ko? What are you waiting for?”

Written in large, white script on the back wall of the room was a message: **The only respite of society lies in justice, whose sole refuge is the law.**

“What the hell is this?” Kogami whispered.

“Looks like they were expecting company. And we’re the company,” Masaoka said. He gently pushed Kogami inside the room and closed the door behind them. “Figures, no lock. Inspector, help me move some of this furniture in front of the door. Ko, best thing you can do is sit down.”

The monitors in the room winked on suddenly with a countdown against digital snow that went from 5 to 1. “I don’t think that’s going to be necessary.” Kogami pointed to the various screens as surveillance footage was fed into the room from the atrium outside. The security drones gathered on the semi-circular floor outside, but made no moves to approach the door or break it down. 

“ _Your attention please. For your protection, access to this area is currently restricted under a temporary order. Please remain in the green room for your own safety. Any violation of this request could result in your untimely death. This message will now repeat_.” 

As the message played, the drones projected the morbid, frightening likenesses of the MWPSB Komissa-chan mascots as holos. Bouncing pleasantly from side to side, the avatars were black and ghoulish looking, like evil specters risen from the grave with red eyes and trim that blazed like hellfire. The holos hovered in place, forming an uneven perimeter outside the room.

“There must be 50 of them,” Akane said, “and they’re all weaponized.”

“Definitely not the home team.” Masaoka shook his great head. “What the devil is going on here?”

“This looks like some kind of locker area.” Akane cautiously ventured into the nearest room and returned with a handful of towels. “There’s a corridor and other rooms down there. Maybe we can find supplies.”

“Just hold on, missy,” Masaoka said. “No need to wander off. We’ve got enough to worry about right here and right now. Ko, you got the front door? No sense in leaving ourselves open to attack. You two stay here while I have a quick look around.” 

“Here,” Akane said, offering Kogami a towel, “I think you could use this—”

Kogami snatched the towel from her hand and promptly pressed it against the puncture wound. He was still bleeding heavily. With the ferocity of a toothache, the puncture throbbed and kicked at him without mercy. Kogami didn’t mean to be short with her. Injured and near delirium, he felt trapped like Alice behind the looking glass, watching a cruel reflection of himself. 

“Mr. Kogami,” Akane said, reproach evident in her voice. “Maybe you should take a seat.”

Unsteady on his feet, Kogami sat down in a posh chair near an alcove with a mirror that was surrounded by oversized lightbulbs. The man he saw in the reflection was haggard, sweaty, and smeared with soot and blood. 

Akane stood behind him, keeping her distance. Blood marred her cheek. She pressed the cotton fabric of the towel against her skin and winced as it stung.

“You were right, Inspector. This is some kind of locker room,” Masaoka said, returning to them with a first aid bag. “From the lack of urinals in the bathroom, I’d say a ladies’ locker room, complete with a shower room, a sauna, and even an area for massages.”

“Great,” Kogami slurred the word. He leaned over and placed his defunct Dominator on the alcove counter. “When one of those drones gets in here, we can ask for a back rub.”

Akane laid her Dominator on the counter beside Kogami’s weapon. “I don’t understand it. It’s as if they’ve been powered down.”

“They came with me in the paddy wagon,” Masaoka said. “They should be fully charged.”

“Doesn’t make any sense,” Kogami whispered. He wasn’t talking about the guns, but rather about the room, which had turned suddenly sideways. With a groan, he collapsed against Akane’s hip and was unconscious by the time he hit the floor.


	2. Round 2

Dimly aware of a cramp in his left side, Kogami awoke from a nightmare where he was trapped in an abandoned office building and held hostage by hostile drones. The sordid reality of the facts and the intensity of the pain in his side grew as true consciousness returned to him. Holding his breath to stifle the pain, he finally gasped for air as the last few minutes of recent memory played through like a horror film in his troubled brain. 

Lying on his back on a massage bed in a dimly lit room, Kogami felt cold, but considering that he was in shock, it was not surprising. Despite the thin blanket that had been thrown over him to minimize his symptoms, he shivered, which only aggravated his traumatized body. His attention was drawn to an uncomfortable tightness around his abdomen. It was difficult to breathe against it. He gently traced the outline with his fingers and tugged at the snug compression of a pressure bandage.

“His airway’s good,” Masaoka said, his voice coming from the room. “He’s breathing, and the circulation looks good. But I suspect he’s bleeding internally.”

“How serious is it?” Akane asked.

“I’m no doctor, Inspector, and definitely not a surgeon.”

Remembering that Akane had been hurt in the explosion, Kogami sat up abruptly. The puncture wound pulled painfully beneath the pressure bandage. He sucked in his breath and swore vehemently as he clung to the edges of the massage table to keep from falling.

“I think he’s awake,” Akane whispered. “You better go to him and explain this before he freaks out.”

_She’s afraid. Why?_

Kogami was immediately unsettled by the fear in her voice, much more so than her low opinion of how he might react. Before he could call out in response, he caught movement slinking through the darkness in his peripheral vision. 

With a dull whirring, the drone observed him from the shadows just beyond the corridor to the massage room. A nightmare, as only the heart of terror could produce, the mechanical beast was made from a black metal that had been polished to a high sheen, and yet the light did not reflect from it. The black, metallic hide caught what little light there was coming from the other rooms and absorbed as camouflage. Five red eyes perceived every minute movement, leaving nothing to chance, and watched him intently from less than a dozen feet away.

This particular model was weaponized with rows of uneven, razor-sharp teeth and four claws that could easily rend flesh from bone. A pair of pincers slowly snipped at the air as the drone’s tail wagged from side to side in anticipation of a master’s call. As Kogami focused on the foxhound and held its unwavering gaze, the drone stood up from its seated position and took a step towards him.

“Ko, no sudden moves.” When Masaoka appeared from around the corner of the lounge, the foxhound resumed its former position in the shadows and sat down. “Just be still.”

“What the hell is that?”

“A watch dog,” Masaoka replied. Pressing himself against the wall to keep his distance from the drone, he moved into the massage room and made his way to the injured Enforcer. “But so far, the only thing it seems to watch is you.”

“Where did it come from?”

“Through the same door we did. Shortly after you passed out, it came strolling in like it owned the place.”

“Still think I’m being paranoid?” Kogami cautiously slid his legs over the side of the bed.

“I never doubted you.”

“What about the security drones?”

“Still out there in the atrium. Though, there’s been some rather interesting developments.”

Kogami glared at him. “Not in the mood for riddles right now, pops. What’s that supposed to mean?”

Masaoka sighed, reluctant to give him a more direct answer. “There’s a lot going on, Ko. You’re in no shape to take it on, but there isn’t much choice.”

“What do you mean it’s my fault?” Akane shouted from the front lounge. The despair raised her voice an octave as it echoed into the corridor.

“Who is she talking—” Kogami fell silent as Masaoka held up his hand for silence.

“Just listen.”

“If you hadn’t run for the doors, the charges wouldn’t have gone off. He was injured protecting you,” a voice said. “He’s barely fit for what’s to come. Disappointing. And it’s all your fault.”

“What do you want from Kogami?” Akane demanded. “From any of us?”

“Pops?” Kogami slid off the massage table. He recognized the voice, but with that recognition came a fear so cold that it gripped him by the neck and ran through his veins in an effort to paralyze him. “Is that Mi-Yeon?” He threw away the thin blanket and scrambled off the massage bed even as Masaoka reach to restrain him. “Mi-Yeon!”

Cheeks glistening with tears, Akane sat by the far wall in one of the loungers with a green throw pillow clutched in her lap. A little girl dressed in a pink hoodie stood in front of her. No taller than about three feet, the child’s back was turned to Kogami as he stumbled into the room. The hood was pulled up, displaying a pair of cat ears. Draped over her right arm was a weathered, restitched stuffed cat.

Kogami recognized the stuffed animal that belonged to his little sister, Mi-Yeon Oh, an orphan that his mother had adopted from the Daigo Children’s Mental Health Facility. But, as the child turned to face him, he did not recognize the wicked, cruel profile of the kabuki mask covering her face. 

Hideous streaks of demonic fire were painted across the lower half of the mask as if the flames of hell streamed from its mouth. Splatters of blood covered the upper half of the ivory mask above poignant, sorrowful eyes that had been swallowed into two black hollows. “Kogami-kun, you’re awake.” Tilting her head sharply to the side, Mi-Yeon curtsied to him with a lavish flourishing of her arms. “Tsk, tsk, you don’t look well, big brother.”

“Mi-Yeon!” Kogami shouted. He reached for her, but his arm was promptly ensnared by the foxhound’s tail. 

Cutting off his circulation, the drone’s tail coiled about Kogami’s upper arm and held him back. The pair of sinister pincers at the end snapped at his face in warning when the Enforcer resisted.

“Physical contact will not be permitted. Not even by you, big brother,” Mi-Yeon whispered.

“Who the hell are you?”

“There’s no such thing as a bad dog. Just bad owners,” Mi-Yeon replied. “Those were the last words you said to me before we parted. Remember, Enforcer Kogami?”

“Masato Roninn,” Kogami growled. “What have you done with Mi-Yeon?”

“All will be revealed to you in good time, Kogami-kun. Just you wait and see.”

“Stop using her voice!” Kogami lunged at the image, but his groping fingers went right through the hologram. He winced in pain as the foxhound tightened its tail. With a powerful yank that nearly dislocated his shoulder, the drone brought him to the ground. The coiled tail continued to tighten until he lost all sensation in his fingers.

“Kogami!” Akane screamed.

“Stay where you are, Inspector Tsunemori. One wrong move by you or you, Enforcer Masaoka, and that door will open, letting in my friends outside. They will make quick work of you three and end the games before they even have a chance to properly begin.” The image of Mi-Yeon bowed down in front of Kogami and feigned sympathy. She stroked the foxhound’s metal head. “Be gentle with him, Argus. He’s already hurt.”

“What have you done with her!” Kogami demanded. Pressing his forehead into the floor, he fought for balance.

“My, my, somebody’s hue is getting awful cloudy.”

The monitors in the room switched from the scene in the atrium to a display of their an official MWPSB employee identification pictures along with their psycho passes and crime coefficients. Flashing yellow, Kogami’s picture pulsed with a crime coefficient of 299.

“This comely sanctuary is the green room, so named for the off-stage area where actors dressed or relaxed before going on stage. Historically, such chambers were referred to as the green room because the stage was ofttimes draped in green for tragedies.” Rocking back and forth on her toes and heels, Mi-Yeon hugged the stuffed cat tightly to her chest. “And what is about to unfold here is nothing short of a tragedy, more or less, depending on perspective.”

“What kind of twisted game is this?” Masaoka demanded. 

“Humans learn best through those lessons that have a lasting effect on them. The door is not locked, Mr. Masaoka. You may leave at any time, _if_ you can get passed the security drones. Considering that I have deactivated your Dominators, I wouldn’t advise that. You are my guests, for the time being, and you are welcomed to stay within the confines of this green room.”

“What happens if we refuse to play along with your game?” Akane asked.

“You are not being tested here, Inspector Tsunemori, but should Kogami-kun refuse to comply, you are all going to die here. And by all, I’m not just referring to the three of you. There are other lives on the line here as well.”

“You son of a bitch!” Kogami muttered through grit teeth. “I should have cut your throat when I had the chance.”

“Never turn your back on your prey until you’re certain that what’s left behind you is a corpse, Kogami-kun.”

“Stop calling me that!” Kogami gasped in pain as the foxhound’s tail tightened even more, cutting into his skin. The numbing sensation in his hand was replaced with an icy heaviness and a painful throbbing. 

“Let him go, Argus,” Mi-Yeon said. She waited until the drone released the Enforcer, who collapsed at her feet, grasping his arm. “Are you awake, Kogami-kun?”

“Stop calling me that!” Kogami screamed. “You’re not her!” 

Warily watching the foxhound, Masaoka stepped in to prevent Kogami from lunging once more at the hologram. He wrapped his arms about the younger man’s shoulders and held him back.“That thing will kill you. Stand down, Kogami!”

Kogami was too weak to fight him and fell back to his knees in the veteran’s powerful bear hug. 

“Good advice, Mr. Masaoka. I see you found the first aid bag. There’s a supply locker on the back wall of the massage room near the sauna. You’ll find more medical supplies, even pain killers.” Mi-Yeon bent down, hands resting on her shins, and stared into Kogami’s anguished face through the sinister kabuki mask. “You look like you could do with a dose, Kogami-kun. Do be careful. I understand that opioids are rather addictive.”

“You won’t get away with this,” Masaoka said.

“Oh, I think I will!” Mi-Yeon said, holding up one finger in protest. “The rest of Division 1 is on a wild goose chase to the edge of the city. They’re not even on site yet. With all the traffic obstructions and delays that I arranged for them, it might take them an additional hour or two to reach their destination. By the time they do arrive to investigate, this game will have played itself out. In the meanwhile, I leave you with the ever faithful Argus Panoptes, your watch dog. He will be keeping an eye on you. All five of them, and so will I.” 

“Cold bastard.” Masaoka rubbed Kogami’s shoulder and held onto him.

“That’s not very nice, Mr. Masaoka.” Mi-Yeon squeezed her eyes shut and giggled behind the mask. Then resuming a serious stance and tone, she cocked her head to one side. “You have three minutes to come to grips with your new reality. Until then, I leave you with a bit of entertainment.” The holo avatar of Mi-Yeon bowed respectfully and stepped through the closed door.

The monitors went blank temporarily. When the digital snow cleared, each of the four lounge screens played a different video stream. One of them displayed footage of Mi-Yeon playing on the swings in the park. Kogami’s mother, Tomoyo, called out to her to be careful. On the adjoining wall, a monitor showed video from inside Kogami’s childhood home during a recent birthday party for his adopted little sister. A third video was a recording of the child riding in a horse show as she guided her pony over a series of fences. The final monitor showed surveillance footage of Tomoyo Kogami walking Mi-Yeon to school on a snowy morning under a large bamboo umbrella.

“Son of a bitch!” Kogami broke free from Masaoka and lunged for the door.

“Kogami, no!” Masaoka shouted. Before Kogami could throw open the door, he grabbed the younger man, restrained him in an armlock, and pinned him to the floor. “You’re going to get yourself killed and us with you!”

“He has my family!” Kogami struggled to breathe beneath the veteran’s weight and leverage. Weak from blood loss, he was unable to overpower Masaoka. Coughing violently, he swallowed with difficulty as the taste of copper rose, unwelcomed, in the back of this throat.

“Kogami,” Akane whispered.

“No!” He shoved her hand away and attempted to break Masaoka’s hold. “If he has Mi-Yeon, then he has my mother, too.”

Masaoka released Kogami and backed up to the door. “If Roninn has your family, the only way to save them is to keep your head on your shoulders and think, Kogami! The answer is through this door. But not yet. Not until we’re invited.”

Kogami rubbed the feeling back into his arm and returned to the mirrored alcove like a defeated boxer to his corner. Not recognizing the man looking back at him, he glared at the dismal reflection. He flinched slightly and put his hand over the puncture wound. It ached from deep within the muscle as if the glass shard was still inside him, cutting at his flesh. 

When he pulled his fingers away from the pressure bandage, there was blood smeared between them. Kogami closed his eyes, helplessly boxed into a tight corner by circumstances. With a shout of rage, he punched the mirror and shattered it into several minute fragments, creating multiple reflections of his bloody image. 

Masaoka shrugged out of his overcoat and draped it over Kogami’s shoulders. “You’re in shock, Ko. You’re not thinking clearly.” He gently maneuvered Kogami down into the chair beside the marble counter. “Take a deep breath and get your head straight. If this really is Roninn, he went through a lot of trouble to get you here. Whatever he’s got planned,” the veteran sighed, running a hand through his brown hair, “we’re with you.”

“He has my family,” Kogami whispered.

“And we’re going to get them back.”

Kogami cringed beneath Masaoka’s supportive hands as he heard his mother and Mi-Yeon laughing in the background.

“Any way to turn those god-damned things off?” Masaoka asked.

Akane shook her head. “I already tried.” She laid an anxious hand against her bandaged cheek. “I can’t lower the volume either. I’m sorry.”

Coughing into his hand, Kogami closed his fingers over the splotch of blood in his palm. The situation was insufferably frustrating, but he would have welcomed the challenge had he been fit and alone. But being injured and possibly bleeding internally, he did not know if he was strong enough to take on Roninn’s game.

“You’re looking a pint low,” Masaoka said. “Let’s have a look at that wound.”

Kogami shook his head forlornly. “There’s no time.” He glanced at the monitor closest to the door. The timer was ticking down on the screen. They had only a minute left. Nostrils flared in desperate, helpless rage, he watched on another monitor as Mi-Yeon blew out the candles at her 6th birthday party and grit his teeth.

The timer ran out, and a low, persistent knocking could be heard at the door. The video feed of Mi-Yeon stopped and was replaced with a flashing graphic of the words: _Knock, knock_. 

Kogami shrugged out of Masaoka’s coat and quietly laid it on the counter before going to answer it. He hesitated, hand trembling above the knob. Looking over his shoulder at Akane and Masaoka, he grasped the knob and slowly opened the door. 

The hideous kabuki mask was waiting in the shadows on the other side. Mi-Yeon’s inquisitive brown eyes blinked from beneath the mask, and she held up a brown, paper bag. “Trick or treat!”

Kogami glared down at the holo, offering nothing more than a scowl. In the darkness behind the specter of Mi-Yeon, he saw and heard the perversions of the Komissa-chan mascots scattered throughout the atrium as they bounced to and fro, red eyes glowing in the dimness.

“No treat? Than you get a trick. Follow me.” Mi-Yeon walked a few paces ahead of him, weaving a path among the holo-cloaked drones. “Don’t worry, Kogami-kun, so long as you follow the rules, they won’t hurt you. Okay?” Mi-Yeon made a peace sign over her left eye and tilted her head to the side.

Kogami hesitated in the doorway. He heard a low, menacing growl from behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Argus standing in a strike posture. 

The foxhound was aggressively waving the sinister blades of its tail over its head. Its intention were evident as it sought to herd him into the atrium and away from the safety of the green room.

“We get the message,” Masaoka grumbled. Keeping himself between Akane and the drone, he stood behind Kogami. “Shall we?”

Followed by his companions, Kogami stepped into the darkness. When the three of them were out of the room, the foxhound ceased its growling and sat down. The door automatically closed behind them. 

Masaoka cautiously tried the knob. “It’s locked.” The light at the top of the door, which had been green, abruptly turned red.

“Only from the outside, Mr. Masaoka, when the light is red,” Mi-Yeon said, peeking from behind the ghoulish visage of a Komissa-girl holo. “The door will always open from the inside, if someone wants to leave.” She giggled and proceeded to spin like a dancer on her toes.

Kogami cast a quick glance to the escalators on the left. In desperation, he considered making a bid for them to escape, but the odds were not in their favor. Masaoka shook his head subtly against the idea, and Kogami was forced to recognize the foolishness of the idea. 

Running for the escalators was no plan. It was suicide. He was in no condition to run, and even if he had been, none of them would have made it with the security drones right on top of them.

“The green room is the place for you to recover. As long as the light above the door is green, you may enter safely, but when it turns red, if you leave that sanctuary, you will be at the mercy of my friends.” Mi-Yeon walked across the semi-circular room, weaving erratically between the drones. “I’m afraid we’re on a very strict time schedule, so you cannot remain in any area for too long or the drones will swarm in and attack you.” 

“ _Your attention please. For your protection, access to this area is currently accessible under a temporary order. For your own safety, please move to your next destination quickly. Any violation of this request will result in your untimely death. This message will now repeat_.”

“Any attempt to deactivate or attack a drone will have the same result. Your slow and painful deaths,” Mi-Yeon explained. Because you left the green room under your own volition, Inspector Tsunemori and Enforcer Masaoka, you are now part of the game and will participate or suffer the consequences.”

“No,” Kogami said. “It’s me you want. Let them go back.”

“I’m not going back,” Akane said.

“Me either,” Masaoka added.

“The decision was made when they left the room,” Mi-Yeon said. “There are four rooms, but only one will be accessible at any given time.”

“The one with the green light,” Akane said.

“Perceptive, isn’t she?” Mi-Yeon said. She paused at the doorway, looking up at the large oaken frame. “Time is fleeting, Kogami-kun! Please open the door and proceed inside.”

Bowing his head in passive-aggressively defiance, Kogami set his jaw and refused to comply. He feigned hesitation by reading the bronze plaque on the wall beside the door: _The Balance of Judgment_. 

“Well?” Mi-Yeon asked. “It would be a shame for you to die before you even got to play!”

“Not like we have much choice,” Masaoka said. He opened the door and peered inside. “I’ll take point. You take the back for now. Inspector, stay between us for safekeeping.” He cautiously stepped into the room, keeping his arms outstretched, one in front and the other in back.

The narrow room was illuminated from all possible angles: the ceiling, the floor, and the walls. It reminded Kogami of a sterile room, which often served as an entrance into a laboratory. There was a low, resonate hum that reverberated in the close space. It was difficult to assess whether the sound came from the powerful light source or some other unseen mechanism. 

“Stranger and stranger,” Masaoka said. “Watch yourselves. There’s no telling what’s happening here.”

As the door closed behind them, sealing them in, a familiar, squat drone rolled into the room and stopped a few feet away from them. With a low hissing noise, the black, rectangular drone’s top lid unsealed and slid apart to reveal a weapons compartment within it. A single Dominator was situated inside, and Akane reached for it.

“Don’t touch it!” Kogami snapped at her. 

Akane jumped at the sharp report of his voice. As if bitten, she withdrew her hand and took a step back, glaring at him. “It’s obviously here for us.”

“One of us,” Kogami sneered.

“Nothing’s obvious about what’s going on here,” Masaoka said. He gave Kogami a reproachful look. “Best to let one of us handle this, Inspector.” Reaching into the drone with his prosthetic hand, he cautiously retrieved the Dominator from the drone. After a few tense moments, he anxiously switched it to his right hand and laid his finger on the trigger.

“ _Dominator Portable Psychological Diagnosis and Suppression System has been activated. User authentication: Enforcer Tomomi Masaoka. Affiliation: Public Safety Bureau, Criminal Investigation Department. Dominator usage approval denied. You are not a valid user. The trigger will remain locked.”_

“Not valid user?” Masaoka’s eyes widened. “Maybe Ginoza made good on his threats to finally retire me to an isolation facility.” He showed the gun to them and the flash of red lights, indicating that it was locked due to failed verification.

“That’s not funny, Mr. Masaoka,” Akane whispered. “This Dominator should recognize you.”

“The retirement joke was in bad taste. My apologies.” 

“Let me try it,” Akane said.

“Can’t do that, Inspector. I’m still not convinced it’s safe for you to handle.” He let the Dominator slide forward on his finger and held it out to Kogami.

Exhaling in dread, Kogami took the weapon and placed his finger on the trigger. The lights went blue with his touch.

“ _Dominator Portable Psychological Diagnosis and Suppression System has been activated. User authentication: Enforcer Shinya Kogami. Affiliation: Public Safety Bureau, Criminal Investigation Department. Dominator usage approval confirmed. You are a valid user. The current enforcement mode: Lethal Eliminator. The trigger will remain in an unlocked position. Aim calmly and eliminate the target_.”

“What the hell!” Instinctively, Kogami turned his back to his colleagues to put himself between them and the Dominator as the gun shifted its configuration from the normal duty paralyzer mode to the lethal execution mode without the benefit of any crime coefficient to trigger the transformation.

Doing an impromptu diagnostic scan on the weapon with his wristcom, Masaoka’s eyes widened. “This Dominator was last assigned to Masato Roninn. It’s still registering as if he were an Inspector with the MWPSB.”

“His credentials were rescinded,” Akane said. “However, his Dominator authorization wasn’t.”

“How do you know that?” Kogami asked.

“I overheard Shion discussing it with Inspector Ginoza. There was some glitch in the system, and Roninn’s Dominator authentication could not be deleted for some reason.”

“And Ginoza didn’t find that suspicious enough to pursue an inquiry?” Kogami rolled his eyes.

“It wasn’t a priority issue at the time,” she replied.

“Well,” Masaoka sighed, “at least we know for certain who we’re dealing with here.” 

“But why sabotage a Dominator and lock it into lethal eliminator mode? My crime coefficient isn’t nearly high enough to trigger it.” Akane looked up at the two men standing in front of her. “And neither of you have crime coefficients high enough to trigger a judgment of execution either.”

“Not yet,” Kogami said under his breath.

“Doesn’t matter. It’s locked and can take out any target that gets in our way,” Masaoka said, a grin curling in the corner of his mouth. “Including those security drones, if we can get it to reconfigure to Destroy Decomposer mode.”

“An astute observation, Enforcer Masaoka,” the kabuki-masked holo said. “However, you have not taken into consideration that it was I who gave you that Dominator. Surely your vast experience as a police detective would have led you to the conclusion that any action against me or the drones might have lethal consequences.”

“Then why arm us?” Kogami demanded.

A wall in the back of the room shifted and sank down into a recessed niche in the floor, revealing a blank television monitor. Written in black script above the screen, there was a message printed on the wall. **If he cannot be incarcerated, the fugitive from the law must be promptly put down like a rabid dog, if only for the public good** _._

“Why are you armed? Why to keep the public safe, Mr. Kogami. That’s what the MWPSB does, isn’t it?”

Kogami glared at the malfunctioning Dominator in his hand and then at the holo of Mi-Yeon. “Are expecting our crime coefficients to elevate?”

“They already have, but only marginally, as would be expected of professionals with your extensive experience and credentials,” Mi-Yeon replied.“But so often Enforcers and Inspectors find themselves in the precarious position of having to dispose of citizens who do not have the same hardened veneer or composure of CID personnel.”

“What is this, Roninn?” Kogami asked. “Payback?”

“This is the Balance of Judgment, Mr. Kogami, your first test. Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment. Aptly spoken by the American philanthropist Will Rogers.”

“You’re guilty of corrupting the law and the murder of innocents as well as Enforcers,” Akane said. “Hypocrite.”

“My failures have been errors in judgment, not of intent. Another great American said that—Ulysses S. Grant.” Mi-Yeon shrugged. “I am guilty only of wanting to uphold the law.”

“Stop quoting them,” Kogami said with menace. “They were good men.”

“It’s difficult for a good man to get a fair trial these days, wouldn’t you agree?”

Kogami’s eyes narrowed. “That’s because you’re not a good man.”

“Then we shall see if you are, Kogami-kun. Every day Inspectors and Enforcers have to make life or death decisions. We are aided by the imperfect perfection of the Sibyl System, but today, you will act alone in rendering a verdict and then act on its execution.”

The ominous hissing returned, and the walls on both sides of the narrow room shifted outward and slid down to reveal two rooms that were remarkably similar to isolation cells. Kogami gasped and took a step back in horror. He recognized the young man in the cell by his medium-length black hair and pale skin. No older than 18, the youth wore a pair of glasses perched on the tip of his slender nose. The profile was unmistakable, reminding Kogami of his old friend Ginoza. “Gin!”

“You know the boy?” Masaoka asked.

“And that girl,” Akane said. Hand trembling, she pointed to the other room. “We know her, too.”

Kogami spun around to the opposite room and saw a young girl about the same age with long, brown hair curling at her shoulders. “Sachi!” He pressed his hand against the glass wall dividing them.“Sachi!”

“Neither of them can see nor hear you,” Mi-Yeon said. “For the moment.”

Frantically looking for some seam or weakness in the glass, Kogami scanned the wall for access but found no obvious entrance. The malfunctioning Dominator rattled noisily against the surface. “Sachi!”

Face glistening with sweat, Sachi was intently watching a widescreen monitor on the wall in front of her. Kogami recognized images from the racing simulation _Destiny Road_ , the video game that she had been playing when they first met at the Daigo Children’s Mental Care facility. Frustrated with the game, the girl struggled to operate the controls in her hands.

“What’s happening to her?” Akane whispered.

Sachi’s forearms were restrained in a type of medieval stock that restricted her movements. As her digital car momentarily ran off the road, she squealed in pain and struggled to bring it back onto the racing line. In response to the lapse, a metal iris of sharp razors contracted about her forearms and cut into her flesh.

“Sachi!” Gin cried from the other room.

“It’s okay, Gin. I got you,” she replied. 

The two were wearing headgear that was common among gamers for the purpose of communicating in-game. Kogami turned away and stared into Gin’s cell and saw that the boy was trapped in a similar device. As blood pooled beneath his arms, Gin struggled to assemble a model version of a Dominator from a dozen or more pieces arrayed on a table in front of him.

“Risking your own life has never been problematic for you, Mr. Kogami. But what happens when the stakes in your decision-making affects the lives of others?” Mi-Yeon asked. “That will be the theme of these tests, starting with this one.”

Distracted by Sachi’s outcry of pain, Gin fumbled with a modeling piece and dropped it. He was rewarded by the metal iris closing tighter on his forearms. Instinctively flinching, the frantic boy made matters worse as the blades cut deeper into his arm. “Sachi, I can’t do this!”

“Yes, you can, Gin!” Sachi screamed. “We can do this. Finish assembling the Dominator, and he’ll let us go.”

“What sort of brutality is this, Roninn?” Masaoka asked. 

“Gin’s task is a simple one, Mr. Masaoka. All he has to do is assemble a model of a Dominator,” Mi-Yeon said. “But he spent a lot of time complaining, threatening, and being difficult; thus, he suffered the consequences. Poor boy’s losing the feeling in his fingers by now.” The hologram walked over to the opposite room and stood on tiptoe to peer inside. “But so is she.”

“This is savage, even for you,” Masaoka said with a hint of menace in his voice. He tried to divert his attention away from the children’s suffering by staring at the floor, but could not remain detached for very long before peering back into Sachi’s cell.

“Sachi’s task is to play her favorite video game on the highest setting. As long as she can keep the game going, Gin has time to work. But for every mistake she makes in the game, such as leaving the racing line or slipping off the track, she, too, suffers.”

Kogami tightened his grip on the Dominator. There was no room for defiance. “You’ve shown me the stakes. Now how do I end this?”

“It will all be over very soon,” Mi-Yeon sighed sadly. “Sachi is running out of track.”

“You mean, even if she wins, she loses?” Akane asked.

“Oh the tenacity of youth! It is to be envied. Don’t you think, Kogami-kun? They were told that a hero would come to save them, and now the hero has arrived.”

“Stop grandstanding! What do I need to do?”

“You are here to save them, Enforcer, but not from me. You must save them from themselves.” The masked hologram turned to Kogami and madly rolled its head from side to side. “That’s where the Dominator comes in, big brother.” 

A digital timer appeared on each glass wall with a countdown of three minutes. In a smaller font, another number appeared beside it. This second number changed sporadically, increasing and decreasing in increments of five or ten points. On Gin’s glass, the number was flashing red and rapidly approaching the nineties. The number on Sachi’s wall was yellow and in the high sixties.

“Besides the timer, the important number for you to note is the crime coefficient of each occupant. Should one of them reach a number over regulation value, you will be expected to employ your Dominator appropriately, Enforcer Kogami.”

“How?” Akane shouted. “It’s locked in lethal eliminator mode! That mode is reserved for latent criminals with coefficients over 300.”

“We are in a microcosm of Sybil’s will,” Mi-Yeon said, staring up at Akane. “The rules are different here, Inspector Tsunemori. Harsher. Permanent. With little room for broad definitions. That is the nature of a test.” Clasping the stuffed cat tightly to her chest, the holo stared at each of them. “If he cannot be incarcerated, the fugitive from the law must be promptly put down like a rabid dog, if only for the public good.”

“But they’re not fugitives from the law!” Akane protested. “They’re just children.”

“We are all children, Inspector Tsunemori, and Sybil is our mother. Inspectors are our fathers. And the Enforcers, our disciplinarians.”

“Sachi,” Gin cried, tears streaming down his cheeks. “I can’t feel my fingers!”

“Gin, you can’t give up!” She yelped in pain as the irises tighten even more, cutting into her flesh. “Don’t give up.”

Unable to cope with the stress, Gin’s crime coefficient shot up to 103. The value flashed rapidly on the glass and an alarm sounded. With the whimsical effect of wind chimes, a glass doorway was illuminated and slid open, granting access into the room.

“And we have a winner!” Mi-Yeon exclaimed. “Do your duty, Enforcer.”

Hands clasped at her chest in fright, Akane whispered, “Kogami, you can’t. I’m ordering you to not—”

“You have no authority here, Inspector Tsunemori!” Mi-Yeon hissed. “Hold your tongue before I cut it out!”

Staggering, as if struck in the chest, Kogami stared at the reconfigured Dominator in his hand. Its purpose was now clear, and he struggled to catch his breath beneath the weight of the decision forced upon him. “No,” Kogami said, shaking his head in defiance. “I won’t do it.”

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” Masaoka declared. Determining where a hidden door might be by approximating equal distance from the opposite cell, he attacked the glass. Leaning into his punches, he repeatedly struck the glass with his prosthetic hand. The assault did little initial damage, except chip it, but that was enough to encourage him. So, he kept swinging.

“Mr. Kogami?” Gin said in a hoarse whisper as Kogami stepped into his cell. Hands shaking, he stared at the Enforcer, tears falling from his eyes. “Please help me. Help us.”

“Mr. Kogami’s here?” Sachi’s voice raised an octave. Distracted for only a moment, she deviated from the racing line and paid the price. “Mr. Kogami, is that really you?” she asked through grit teeth and pain.

“It’s me, Sachi,” Kogami said loud enough to be heard over the headset’s receiver. “Inspector Tsunemori and Enforcer Masaoka are trying to get to you.”

“I’m good, Mr. Kogami. I got this. Get Gin free first,” she pleaded.

“The only way to go free is for one of them to die, Kogami-kun. The boy’s crime coefficient is over regulation value. Use your Dominator. Use you Dominator on him now!”

“Shut up!” Kogami shouted. “Gin, listen to me. Take slow, deep breaths.”

“Mr. Kogami, I can’t. My hands!” Gin cried. “I can’t feel my hands.”

“Shoot him, Enforcer Kogami!” Mi-Yeon demanded. “He has been judged! Shoot him now.”

Tears streaming freely from his eyes, Gin looked down in terror at the reconfigured Dominator in Kogami’s hands. “Will that free Sachi? If you shoot me?”

“Yes,” Mi-Yeon said before Kogami could calmly explain the situation. “One of you has to die for the game to end.”

“I’m the weak link,” Gin whispered. Shoulders slumped, he allowed the modeling pieces to fall from his fingers, even as the metal iris tightened on his arms as punishment. Fresh blood ran from beneath his elbows.

“Gin!” Sachi screamed. “Don’t you dare give up, you asshole! I didn’t do all of this for you to give up!”

Dropping down to a knee, Kogami said, “Look at me. Look at me, Gin. You’re crime coefficient is too high.”

“Shoot him. Shoot him now, or there will be consequences.” 

“Mr. Kogami,” Gin said shaking is head. “Just do it. Save Sachi.”

Kogami raised the muzzle of the Dominator. “ _Crime Coefficient 103. Enforcement action is required. Aim calmly and eliminate the target.”_

“Put him down now!” Mi-Yeon stomped her feet on the floor in disgust. “There will be consequences!

“Masaoka!” Kogami shouted.

“Doing the best I can!” Masaoka replied from the corridor between the rooms. “Which doesn’t seem to be much.”

Kogami turned back to the frightened boy. “Gin, you were a leader back at the facility. All the kids looked up to you.”

“No, they didn’t! They looked up to Sachi, not me. Never me!”

“Checks and balances,” Kogami whispered. He used his free hand to hold the boy’s chin, forcing Gin to face him. “She was the magic and the whim, but you were the reason and the logic.”

Panting, Gin seemed to calm. “You believe that?”

From the corner of his eye, Kogami saw the boy’s crime coefficient dropped a point. “I know that.”

“What’s happening!” Sachi yelled. “What is this? Mr. Kogami? Miss Tsunemori?”

Kogami stood up to look into the other cell and saw a thin fog descending from the ceiling in Sachi’s cell. The fine mist lingered near the ceiling tiles until it condensed and drifted down into the room.

“Indecision brings consequences, Mr. Kogami,” Mi-Yeon said evenly. “That mist that you see is a nerve agent. It is the same agent used to execute latent criminals in isolation facilities when their care can no longer be managed.”

“Stop!” Kogami thundered.

“The gas is a humane alternative that does not kill immediately. In fact, there are no lingering effects if it is pumped out of the room within 10-15 seconds of its release. Do your duty, Enforcer, or the wrong citizen will die here today. You have 10 seconds.”

“Gin, look at me,” Kogami said.

“...8...7...”

Gin swallowed with difficulty. “I understand, Mr. Kogami. I understand what I have to do.” His wide eyes narrowed with determination. “I still want to be an Inspector when I graduate.”

“...6...5...”

“And you will be,” Kogami said. “Consider this your first test in the field. Are you up to it?”

Gin’s crime coefficient continued to flash red, but dropped to 100. “Out of the night that covers me, black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods maybe for my unconquerable soul.”

“...4...3...”

“It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”

“...2...1...”

Kogami watched, on edge, as the crime coefficient dipped to 96. “Masaoka!”

“The gas has stopped!” Masaoka yelled. “It’s being pumped out of the room.”

Kogami managed a smile for the exhausted boy and gently patted him on the head. “ _Invictus_ by Henley. One of my personal favorites.” He noticed the timer on the glass had restarted. “Why has the timer reset?”

“Did I fail to mention that you have one minute to return to the green room between challenges?” Mi-Yeon replied.

Kogami scowled at the hologram. “Release them!”

“You remain a complicated study, Mr. Kogami,” the holo said. “I had not anticipated your ability to talk the subject down. Familiarity does indeed breed strange bedfellows. I suggest that you don’t waste any time attending to their injuries. Those wounds look deep.”

There was a harsh noise, the sliding of metal against metal. The top of the stocks imprisoning Gin’s arms lifted from the desk. Gin’s forearms bled profusely as soon as the device released him from the sharpened blades. Slipping the knot of his tie, Kogami quickly wrapped one arm with it. “We don’t have a lot of time. Apply pressure to that other wound until we can get the right supplies.” Kogami stood up and helped Gin to his feet. “Can you walk?”

“I can run if you need me to.”

“Good to know. Masaoka!”

“We’ve got the girl!” Masaoka yelled from across the corridor. “Thirty seconds, Ko!”

“Move!”

Supporting Gin by the waist, Kogami hurried toward the door. Akane and Masaoka rushed after him with Sachi supported under each shoulder. Her arms were bandaged with strips of cloth from the lining of Akane’s coat. Kogami’s eyes briefly met Akane’s, but there was no time to discern any emotion in them except urgency.

“It won’t be a straight shot,” Masaoka said. “Those damn drones are all over the place. They’ll will be in the way.”

“No time to think about it.” Kogami led the way through the door. “We just need to get to that room.”

Outside in the corridor, the two young people made eye contact. There was no need for words as their hands briefly touched. 

“Twenty seconds, Ko! Inspector Tsunemori go for the door. We’re not going to make it.” He paused to pick Sachi up in his arms. 

“We’ll make it!”

“If we survive this,” Masaoka growled, “and you don’t kill this bastard Roninn, I will, Ko.”

“Get in line, pops.”

“The light above the door isn’t green!” Akane shouted. “It must be on the same timer!” She was standing only a few feet from the green room. The red light streaming down from the door frame made it appear as if her face was covered in blood.

As Masaoka hurried from the chamber, the door promptly slammed shut behind him, and the green light above the mantle turned red. Simultaneously, the green room light across the atrium flashed accordingly and went green. “Akane, the door!”

Akane rushed into the green room, their only sanctuary, and held it open as Kogami raced through the obstacle course of Komissa-chan mascots bouncing back and forth. “Kogami!” she screamed. “The drones! They’re moving!”

Kogami swallowed a curse in the back of his throat. Shoving Gin in front of him, he pushed the boy through the door as the holographic images of the Komissa faded, and the drones moved in on them. Covering Masaoka, he took aim with the reconfigured Dominator on the drones.

“ _Threat assessment unavailable. Enforcement action not possible at this time.”_

“You know better!” Masaoka shouted. The veteran cop grabbed Kogami by the collar and yanked him back into the green room. On his nod, Akane closed the door. “Have you lost your mind, Kogami? Lethal eliminator works on organic targets only, not drones. Without the destroy decomposer mode, it won’t have any effect.”

“It was worth a shot,” Kogami said.

“At what cost, Ko? Dammit, use your head!”

Sachi’s scream brought their attention back from the danger behind the door to the danger among them: Argus. As Gin protectively knelt over her, the traumatized girl crumpled to the floor and slid across it to get away as the foxhound walked into the lounge area.

“It’s alright,” Akane whispered. She got down on the floor and embraced Sachi with one arm, while clutching Gin’s shoulder with the other hand.

“If that was the first test, by God, we’re in trouble,” Masaoka said in disgust. 

The hologram of Mi-Yeon walked through the closed door of the green room. Arms behind her back, she took one step forward, head bowed in deep thought. “The balance of judgment is a terrible thing, is it not, Enforcer Kogami? As usual, you have the uncanny ability to summon chaos, turning black and white into messy smears of gray.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, again,” Kogami replied.

“I’m not disappointed, Mr. Kogami, “just reassessing the situation. That’s what good Inspectors do.”

“Is that...” Sachi shook her head, her eyes wide in terror. “Is that Mi-Yeon?”

“I can’t tell,” Gin answered. “That mask. It’s hideous. But it looks like her.”

“It’s not,” Kogami said. 

“You have one hour to lick your wounds. With the exception of granola bars, there’s no food here. You’ll find bottled water in the shower area. As always, Argus will be watching and listening.” Tilting her head to the side, Mi-Yeon stared up at Kogami. “Keep the Dominator handy, Enforcer. If anyone’s crime coefficient rises above regulation level, with the exception of youself or Mr. Masaoka, you _will_ be required to take their life or forfeit every life in this room.” The holo faded away in a blurry splotch of random colors.

“Mr. Kogami, what is this? What’s happening?”

“Paybacks, Sachi,” Kogami whispered. “I’m sorry I got you involved in this.”

Masaoka bent down and scooped Sachi up from the floor. “Need to see to those arms, young lady. Akane, bring the boy. Ko, have a seat. You look like hell.” 

“I’ll get the medical supplies out of that locker,” Akane said. “Take them into that changing room right behind us. I saw a sink and towels in there.

“Mr. Kogami?” Gin asked. “You’re hurt.” He stared at the fresh blood trickling through beneath the pressure bandage and Kogami’s shirt.

“It’s nothing,” Kogami said. “Just go with Enforcer Masaoka. I’ll be here.” He walked to the alcove with the shattered mirror and laid the menacing profile of the Dominator on the counter beside their defunct ones. He leaned on the back of the chair and looked into the fractured glass. His skin was pale, shining with perspiration, and a line of darkness was deepening beneath both eyes. 

Running a hand through his black hair in frustration, Kogami turned away from the miserable image of himself and went over to the sofa where he sat down. He struggled to remain conscious. Diminishing adrenaline left him exhausted. His eyelids were so heavy. Hearing movement, he opened his eyes to find Argus repositioning itself on the floor in front of him. He glared at the drone, who stared back unflinchingly. Letting his head lay back against the wall, Kogami closed his eyes and passed out.


	3. Round 3

Kogami awoke to familiar presence in the green room lounge. Blinking rapidly, he tried to sit up from the deep embrace of the sofa, but his joints were too stiff and the muscles too sore to comply. The puncture wound in his side pulled at him painfully, forcing him to slow down his movements. Exhaustion taking its toll, he had lost consciousness after the first test and then slept in the fitful throes of delirium. Someone had covered him with a blanket. That someone was Akane.

She was sitting across the room in front of the brightly lit alcove and its shattered mirror. Hands clasped in her lap, she breathed in a slow controlled manner—an effort to rein in her emotions. Staring down at the wicked profile of the reconfigured Dominator, Akane put her hand to her mouth to stifle a sob. A tear fell from her eye and splashed on the counter.

Kogami felt his heart breaking. He had never laid hands on her, at least not in anger, nor raised his voice to her. But, he realized with remorse, words did not need to shouted in order to wound. Especially now, being held at the whim of a madmen. The situation only intensified their vulnerabilities.

Akane was inexperienced, still learning her job and finding her place as an MWPSB detective. There were moments when the wisdom that came out of her mouth reminded Kogami of Masaoka’s veteran philosophy of police work, but there were other times when her impetuous nature left them into dangerous predicaments. 

After the explosion in the atrium left a two-foot shard of glass embedded inside him, Kogami wasn’t thinking about that inexperience. The stakes were too high, and so were his emotions. He was angry at her and out of his mind with the pain.

“Are you cold?” Hoarse from a long silence, Kogami struggled to suppress a fit of coughing, knowing that the act would result in severe pain.

“A bit,” she replied honestly, turning her back to him.

“Masaoka says I’m running a temperature. I should be warm enough for the both of us. Why don’t you come sit beside—”

“I’m fine right here.” Akane bowed her head, refusing to look at him.

“Akane, I’m sorry.”

“So am I, Kogami.”

There was a finality in her words, a permanence that frightened and then infuriated him. He didn’t mind losing a fight, as long as he lost it on his terms. Standing up, he wrapped the blanket up in a haphazard bundle and threw it down on the love seat. “I knew it would come to this.”

“Come to what?” Akane replied with an cross tone. She wrapped her thin arms about her shoulders and embraced herself. “Come to what, Kogami? Say it! Is this where the joyride ends? Is this where I walk away?” Fighting back tears, she turned to glare at him. “Because I’m not going to do that! I’m not going to be the one to walk away...from you...from us.”

“Won’t be the first time you’ve made a mistake. Or the last.” 

“Kogami, that’s enough.” Masaoka spoke with such venom in his voice that the younger man involuntarily straightened in respect and averted his eyes.“Sachi’s been asking for you. Why don’t you go—”

“Where is she?”

“Massage room near the sauna,” Masaoka said. “Here, take these.” He handed Kogami a bottle of painkillers. “She’s being stubborn, just like you, but she needs these. Maybe you’ll have better luck convincing her to take something for the pain.”

Kogami walked out of the lounge area with the pills rattling in his hand. He grit his teeth until his jawbone cracked in protest from the strain.

Akane stared after him in disbelief. “Why’s he like this?” She closed her eyes and shook her head, bowing her chin to her chest, as the tears fell unchecked.

“There’s a little wolf in every hound, missy,” Masaoka said. He draped a blanket over her shoulders. “If you back one into a corner, they’ll do desperate things to get out.”

“Are you saying I’ve trapped Kogami?”

“On the contrary, the Sybil System trapped Kogami a long time ago. Unlike Kagari though, he knows what it feels like to be free. You’ve given him back that feeling, and he knows it.” Masaoka mustered a smile for her and gently rubbed her shoulders.

“He has a right to be angry. Even Ginoza would lecture me at this point.” Akane accepted a bottle of water from Masaoka. “I think that I’d prefer the lengthy lecture.”

“You do tend to overreact sometimes, Inspector, jumping the gun and putting us Enforcers in a bad spot. Doesn’t matter to Ko. He’d die for you.”

“I know,” Akane whispered, her voice trailing off to avoid the syllable that would summon her tears.

“We’re in a bad spot here. Whatever this is, it’s personal. Last thing Ko needs is the one and only person he counts on turning on him.”

“Mr. Masaoka, why does this hurt so bad?” Akane collapsed into his arms and wept softly on his shoulder.

“It’s the broken heart that yearns to love and be loved the most, Akane, especially when it risks loving and being broken again.” Masaoka held her close and rubbed her trembling back as she sobbed. “Without Kogami, we’re not getting out of here alive, and neither are those kids.” He pulled her away from him and stared into her eyes with a patriarchal authority. “Until this game is done, we need Kogami in his right mind, and that’s going to be tough because Roninn is doing his damn best to drive him out of it.”

“He’s so angry,” Akane said, her voice breaking. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Wolves howl, even when there is no moon, but they howl more fervently when there is one. The quickest way to break a man is to make him doubt himself. You understand? Let Kogami know you still believe in him, even if he doesn’t believe in himself.” Masaoka handed her the first aid kit. “That pressure bandage needs changed.”

“He’s not going to let me near him.”

“Don’t give him an option. He may snap at you. Might even try to scare you off. Stand your ground. Be firm and keep at him.”

“But Mr. Masaoka, you said not to corner him.”

“Right now, missy, Ko’s already pinned in the corner. You need to coax him out of it.”

# # #

Teeth grit more in pain than anger, Kogami walked passed the corridor to the bathroom and shower area. He saw Gin sitting on the floor in the shadows with his long legs drawn up to his chest and paused midstride. “You alright?”

Refusing to look up, Gin frantically wiped the tears from his cheeks as the Enforcer approached. “Why didn’t you just shoot me with the Dominator, Mr. Kogami?”

Kogami scowled at the question and sat down on his haunches beside the distressed boy. “Because I didn’t want to be responsible for taking out the MWPSB’s next generation of Inspector. One day you’ll be running the Division 1 office and calling me, pops.”

Taking no solace in Kogami’s attempt at comfort and humor, Gin glared up at him. “If you had shot me, we might have saved Sachi.”

“We did save her. You’re talking about her as if she were dead, and she’s very much alive, Gin. And so are you.”

“Alive? For how long? Even if I get out of here, where can I go? This isn’t like the last time when some narcissistic doctor was falsifying my psycho pass. This is real.” Gin shook his head with more certainty. “My life is ruined. You should have put me out of my misery.”

“ _Warning! Warning! An elevated area stress level has been detected. A nearby psycho pass is rising to above-regulation value. The on-duty Enforcer...Shinya Kogami...is immediately required for intervention_.” The voice was Mi-Yeon’s and emanated from the foxhound as it stood sentinel in the hallway watching them. Not only was the drone acting as Roninn’s eyes and ears in the green room, but the weaponized dog was a cymatic scanner.

Kogami turned to the monitor behind them on the wall and saw the screen flicker for a moment. Movies of his adopted sister and mother were replaced by the stoic photos of everyone trapped in the green room along with their corresponding crime coefficients and hues. His coefficient was the highest at 298, with Masaoka at 159. Even Akane’s psycho pass was being effected with a reading of 56, while Sachi was hovering at 61. Gin, however, was once again rising to a dangerous value—98.”

“Gin, I could have killed you to save Sachi,” Kogami said, “but I made a decision—a solid decision—that saved both of you. What you’re doing right now is putting us back into that same bad position, where there’s no room for bargaining. There’s nothing to be gained from it. Losing control will not save you or any of us. It will only result in you dying.” 

When the boy did not respond, Kogami forced him to look at him by grabbing him by the chin. “Snap out of it. Sachi’s not blaming you. I’m not blaming you. No one is. If you remember, she begged me to save you before her. Recognize the merit in that and the merit in you.”

Gin pulled away from him and stood up, resentfully sliding his back against the wall. His slender arms were heavily bandaged from just above the elbow to his wrists. Head bowed, he avoided making any eye contact with Kogami and went into the bathroom.

“Mr. Kogami?”

Hearing Sachi’s quiet voice from the massage room, Kogami got to his feet with some effort and stood in the doorway. Sachi was sitting on a low stool in front of a massage table with her arms propped up on pillows to elevate the injured limbs. Discolored from a lack of proper circulation, the skin appeared sallow, even in the dim lighting. 

“How are you feeling?” he asked, gently running his thumb across her pale cheek.

“Like a red-headed step child. I’m so far away from everyone,” Sachi replied, meeting his worried gaze with a grin. “I was wondering if I could move to the changing room in the back of the lounge. Inspector Tsunemori said to ask you.”

“I don’t see why not.” Kogami fashioned a pair of slings from the belts of two bathrobes and cautiously supported her arms to keep them elevated during the move.

“Speaking of red heads,” Sachi said with a chuckle. “How’s Mr. Kagari doing?”

“Still avidly playing video games.”

“Oorah, gamer for life!”

“You’ll be happy to know that a video game helped us solve a recent case at the Kurouma Theatre.”

“Seriously! What game?”

“ _Silent Redemption_.”

Pursuing her lips, Sachi rolled her eyes. “How retro. Still—a great game. Figures Mr. Kagari would have played that one. Such a rebel.” She wrinkled her nose in anguish and frustration.

“Does it hurt?”

“Can’t really feel anything except this annoying burning sensation. It’s like this terrible itch, and I obviously can’t scratch.”

“Nerve damage maybe,” Kogami said.” He reluctantly held up the bottle of pain killers. “Can’t believe I’m peddling drugs to a kid, but I don’t know how much longer this situation is going to last. These might help alleviate—”

“No way, Mr. Kogami.” Sachi adamantly shook her head. “I’ve never been one to turn to meds. Makes the mind dull. I need to stay sharp, especially now. This is the boss level, and I need to be ready, right?” A strand of sandy blond hair fell into her face.

Kogami gently tucked it behind her ear as they stepped through the door into the family changing room. “Have a seat. I’ll get you some pillows to prop up your arms.”

“I heard you talking to Gin.” Sachi sat down on a chair as Kogami elevated her injured arms.

“He’s taking it harder than expected.”

“Always does. Dying would have been the easy answer,” she replied soberly. “When this is over, he’ll realize that and hate himself for asking you to do the impossible.”

The monitor flickered above her head, showing a collage of still pictures of Mi-Yeon and his mother. There were images of them visiting the Rikugi-en garden in Tokyo, enjoying a water park, and Mi-Yeon riding at a recent horse show where she won grand champion.

“I can’t believe that’s Mi-Yeon riding that pony,” Sachi said. “She got lucky getting you as big brother.” She smiled, but it was a pained expression. “That woman with her? Is that your mother?”

Kogami nodded, reminded of the fact that Roninn might be holding them hostage somewhere in this twisted game of revenge

“I’ll need to thank her when we get out of here.”

“Thank her? For what?”

“For you.” The girl’s smile widened and was genuine this time. “I won’t pretend that this isn’t a really bad situation, but if anyone can get us through it, it’s you, Mr. Kogami. Just like you saved us from that awful mental care facility and the earthquake, remember? Never expected Career Day to be so very exciting.”

Kogami was forced to laugh at the memory. “A little too exciting, if you ask me.”

“But you got us home to our folks. That’s what matters.”

Sachi winced abruptly, sucking in her breath. Under Kogami’s stern glare, she smiled and shook her head. “It does hurt sometimes. Comes in waves. Some stronger than others. But I’m still not taking any pain killer. I’m trying to be like you, Mr. Kogami.”

“Stubborn?”

“Steadfast.”

“Kogami!” Akane shouted. “It’s Gin!” She briefly came to the door before darting back into the doorway between the rooms.

Kogami raced after her into the corridor and then into the bathroom with Masaoka following closely on his heels. Losing his footing as he stepped onto the polished tile, he fought to keep his balance by clinging onto the doorframe. His shoes slipped on the collection of pills scattered across the floor. An opened bottle skittered across the tile, unintentionally kicked by the tip of his shoe. 

“What wrong with the boy?” Masaoka asked. 

Akane was standing in one of the stalls, supporting Gin who was bent over, violently heaving into the toilet. “Gin?”

“Look,” Kogami said. He pointed at the sink and counter area to a display of mental health supplement bottles stacked in the corner. There was a sign beneath them that read: **DO NOT CONSUME**. 

As Argus came around the corner and sat down in the doorway, Kogami glared at the foxhound, knowing that its master was watching and listening. “What the hell is this? You’re poisoning us?”

“The sign makes it very clear, Kogami-kun.” A tiny holographic image of Mi-Yeon was projected onto the floor in front of the drone. 

“Then why put them here as bait?” Kogami demanded. 

“Because one must never forget that temptations are all around us, always enticing us. To be our true selves, we must be vigilant and resist them. Or, we must accept our fate. Those who cannot control their stress naturally must be quarantined or put down.”

Akane snatched the bottle of painkillers from Kogami’s hand, opened it, and dumped the contents into the toilet. She threw the empty bottle at the foxhound and scored a direct headshot, but the drone did not flinch. “You are insane!”

“That was rash move, Inspector Tsunemori. Your ever naive, impetuous nature will leave a legacy of dead Enforcers in its wake someday. Starting with Mr. Kogami.” Mi-Yeon clapped her hands and hopped up and down with excitement. “A distinction to be envied.”

“Take it easy, son,” Masaoka asked. Carrying a bottle of water in his hand, he went into the stall and held the shaking boy as he continued to vomit. 

“For all his talk of dying, it seems he wants to live after all,” Mi-Yeon said. 

“You malicious bastard,” Gin managed to hiss between heaves. 

“Careful, Gin-chan,” the holo said. “Your crime coefficient is getting quite high.” 

Gin’s identification photo flashed on the mirror with his coefficient registering at 99. But as the boy returned to retching over the toilet, the number dropped by two points.

“What sort of poison is it?” Kogami asked.

“Not a poison. It is a stress supplement. Only this variation is in its purest, uncut form. It won’t kill him, but it will make him wish that he were dead.”

“Not if I have anything to do with it,” Akane said. Briefly, she left the room and returned with a bottle of water and a bottle of charcoal tablets. Opening the capsules, she dumped the chalky contents into the water and then vigorously shook the mixture.

“Akane?” Masaoka questioned. 

“He’s already vomiting up the supplement, but if we can get some of this charcoal in him, it will bind to the rest and hopefully settle his stomach, negating the effects.” Akane shook the mixture again and set it to the side. She took a towel from a stack on the counter and ran warm water over it.

“This is your ten-minute warning,” Mi-Yeon said. The holo winked out, but the foxhound remained, ever vigilant.

Akane went back to the stall and waited until Masaoka had gently helped the boy to the floor, leaning him against the stall divider. “This isn’t going to be pleasant, Gin.”

Sweated and panting, Gin nodded his understanding and drank the concoction. Wrinkling his nose, he gagged after the first swallow, but forced himself to drink until half the bottle was empty. Traumatized and embarrassed by his behavior, the boy began to cry, quietly at first, but then his body shook uncontrollably with his sobs. “I’m so stupid. I hate myself.”

“Hush now.” Akane pulled him down into her lap and gently dabbed at his forehead with the damp towel. “It’s alright, Gin. Everything’s going to be alright.”

“This is horrible, and all I’m doing is making the situation worse.”

Akane bent over him and kissed his cheek. “Nothing is beyond repair. No one is beyond redemption, especially if we all stick together through this and hold on.”

Kogami bit his lip. It was as if she were speaking to him, and maybe she was. Feeling himself falter, he pensively ran his hand over his face and left the room.

“Mr. Kogami?” Sachi whispered from the changing room.

“He’s fine.” Kogami punctuated the statement with a dismissive wave of his hand to silence any more questions. He was feeling lightheaded and overwhelmed. Staring at the reconfigured Dominator on the alcove counter, he watched the reflection of Argus coming up behind him from the corner of his eye. 

The monitors in the lounge were rapidly counting down. Kogami wondered when he would see his family used against him in one of Roninn’s trials. He cringed visibly, his mind racing through potential images of them in harm’s way.

“Masaoka, we’re up,” he called down the corridor.

“Right,” Masaoka replied. “Inspector Tsunemori’s still with the boy.”

“She’s staying.”

“Kogami?” Masaoka’s brow was furrowed with worry.

“We’re leaving her here.”

“You will not!” Akane hissed from the corridor. “I’m going with you.”

“Akane, you’re staying here to—” 

As Kogami turned around to face her, Akane was right behind him, her hand flying at speed. She slapped him in the face. “I’ll remind you, Enforcer Kogami, that I am the Senior Inspector onsite.”

Cheek burning from the impact of her palm and fingers, Kogami set his jaw, but had no other reaction. “Alright, Inspector, your call. But who stays behind to protect the kids?”

Akane’s eyes widened in alarm. She recognized, too late, that Kogami was not trying to get her out of the way, but give her a role that was as equally as important as jumping through Roninn’s hoops.

Masaoka sighed in resignation and subtly shook his head. His disappointment was evident. “Three of us would be ideal,” he said softly. “But right now, we have injured civilians with us. Protocol dictates an Inspector stay with them, and the Enforcers do what they do best. I’m sorry, missy, but you’re out of line right now.”

“It won’t be necessary for Inspector Tsunemori to remain behind. I’ve got this.” Leaning on the wall for support, Gin stared into the lounge at the three of them. His face was shiny with perspiration, and his breathing was labored, but even. He shoved his glasses up the bridge of his nose with confidence. “I’ve got this, Mr. Kogami. Besides, an Inspector needs to be present to keep you Enforcers in check.” Somewhat staggered, he turned and walked into the changing room to be with Sachi.

“Remind you of someone?” Kogami said in an attempt at levity.

Masaoka grinned. “I thought it was just me.”

“It’s not.” He turned to Akane. “Get ready.”

“Kogami,” she whispered, “I’m sorry.”

“Save it. We’re out of time.”

There came a knock at the door. Kogami turned the knob and stepped back into the atrium. The hologram of Mi-Yeon was waiting in the dimness. Still wearing the hideous kabuki mask, the avatar was also wearing a Santa Class hat as well as a wreath around her neck. Four of the security drones, each draped in Christmas lights, stood behind her.

“Come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. O come ye, O come ye to judgment—” The holo fell silent. “That does quite go with the song, does it, Kogami-kun? Follow me please.” Spinning on her heel, the hologram walked into the shadows as the drones parted in her wake. 

As the door to the green room closed, the light above its mantle turned red and subsequently, the light above the neighboring door went from red to green. Inscribed on a bronze plaque affixed to the wall were the words: **The Weight of Betrayal.**

Kogami hesitated, but feeling Masaoka’s hand at his shoulder for support, he bowed his head and turned the knob to open the door. The stark light inside was momentarily blinding, forcing him to blink rapidly to adjust the focus of his vision before stepping inside the room.

The chamber was much larger than Kogami might have imaged from the circumference of the office building. At one time, it must have been a conference room or large group meeting area before Roninn reconstructed the building into a personal oubliette of revenge. The dimensions were easily 100 feet wide and another 300 feet in length. A low-lying ceiling reduced the feeling of vastness. Written along the edge of the domed ceiling were the words: **If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.**

Akane absently pressed a hand to the bandaged side of her face. “That sounds familiar. What is it?”

“Machiavelli,” Kogami whispered.

“Can’t say I like the sound of it or the looks of that.” Masaoka nodded to the back of the conference chamber.

Hidden beneath a gold, silken tapestry a large mechanical device sat on a raised platform. It was cold in the room, the air chilled by a complex series of blowers in the low ceiling. That cold air blew across the stage, making the tapestry billow as if caught in a potent spring wind. 

“The weight of betrayal?” Kogami glared down at the hologram of Mi-Yeon. “That’s ironic, when you betrayed every civil law and every moral code that Sybil stands for with deliberate dereliction of your duties. You were a murderer with an MWPSB badge in one hand and a Dominator in the other.”

“To truly love is to open the heart to betrayal.” There was genuine melancholy in the reply, hidden beneath the innocence of Mi-Yeon’s voice. 

She waved her hand in a spiral above her head. Like a curtain drawn to reveal the actors on a stage, the tapestry was drawn back to reveal an oversized scale. Positioned between the large plates was a massive construction drone positioned at the fulcrum. It began busily adding concrete blocks to the two golden scales on either side. Strapped down, with no possible chance of escape, two captives struggled beneath heavy slabs of stone. 

“The Koieyama twins.” Kogami gasped, feeling his stomach turn and sicken. “They were Roninn’s Enforcers before he was disgraced.”

“Am I reading that right?” Masaoka said. He squinted in disbelief at the monitors on the wall behind each victim. “That’s 450 pounds on top of them.”

“They’re being crushed to death,” Akane said. “We have to get them out of that...that thing!”

Kogami nodded at Masaoka and the two Enforcers separated, each man taking a scale. “Kumi!” he yelled to get her attention. 

“Kogami.” With relief in her frightened, weary eyes, she reached out for him. Her pale fingers weakly grasped his hand. “It’s Roninn. Roninn did this to us.”

“I know,” he whispered. “Hang on, we’re going to get you out of this.” He ducked under the machine to search for a release mechanism.

Beneath the massive mechanical contraption, there was an intricate set of levers and pulleys that would have released the back side of the gurney on which she was lying. But Kogami could not make any sense of the instrumentation or wiring. Ignoring the pain from his own injuries, he grabbed the back of the pallet and tried to force it down to free Kumi from the weight slowly crushing her to death.

“Kogami!” Masaoka yelled. “Did you find a release?”

“I’ve got nothing?”

Akane crawled between the framework of the scales and beneath the fulcrum between them. She ran up to the drone while it worked to load another slab and examined the control panel. Unable to find any semblance of a power exchange, she rapidly depressed random buttons and hit switches.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Mi-Yeon warned.

Despite the warning, Akane kept working the buttons in hopes to shut down the drone. For a moment the heavy crane shuddered unsteadily, and then, with a puff of smoke and a flash of white light, a surge of electrical energy shot out of the control panel and into her body. She was lifted off of her feet and thrown backward by the powerful current of electricity.

“Akane?” Kogami crawled through the network of wires and support frames to get to her. She wasn’t breathing. “Akane!” He snatched her from the floor and shook her her violently.

Momentarily dazed by the electrical surge, Akane slowly opened her eyes and took a deep, desperate breath to fill her lungs. “Kogami?”

“She’s not terribly bright, is she?” Mi-Yeon asked. “Even though she did test well and scored in the top 2% of her class.” The holo shrugged indifferently and stared at them from beneath the base of the fulcrum. “Guess it’s true what they say about very bright people. All brains, but no common sense.”

Akane coughed and struggled to speak. Her voice was a hoarse whisper, but no less an order. “Get Kumi out of that thing.”

“The weight of betrayal!” Kogami shouted at Mi-Yeon. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? What’s the test?”

Gazing up at him and then taking a long moment to look over the twins struggling on the scales beneath the massive weight, Mi-Yeon sighed and hugged the stuffed cat beneath her chin. “In olden times, before the wisdom of Sybil, those accused of a crime who would not issue a plea were subjected to crushing until they did utter one for the courts, albeit too late.”

“What plea do you want from them?” Kogami asked.

“Guilty.” The eyes behind the kabuki mask blinked innocently at him. “The twins and I spent some hours together before I brought them here. I had hoped to spare them this, but they refused to confess.” Playfully swinging from side to side, Mi-Yeon laughed. “I practiced every interrogation technique I could think to employ on them, and still they would not speak. I have brought _you_ here as their confessor.”

Unhindered by Akane’s interference, the construction drone dipped behind the raised platform and picked up a large block of concrete. It laid the block on top of Kumi, who screamed in pain. Fearful tears ran from the corners of her eyes as she gasped for breath beneath the weight. The drone returned to the pile of concrete blocks and set another slab down on top of Yemen. Behind them, the monitors registered the weight at 550 pounds.

“The record, I understand, is 700 pounds. Oh, the power of female resolve. The poor woman who suffered this same punishment lasted 15 minutes.” The hologram turned to Kogami. “These two have lasted a full 10 minutes. I wonder how much longer they can stand it? Or how much more weight they can bear before confessing their sin. Or dying.”

“Kumi,” Kogami whispered. He brushed the damp hair from her feverish forehead. “What the hell is he talking about?”

Kumi rolled her head from side to side in a staunch refusal. “Kogami,” she whispered, “I need you to do something for me.”

“Name it.”

“Take care of Yemen. Promise me you will.”

“I don’t have to make that promise. You’ll—”

“Kogami, don’t.” Convulsing beneath the weight, Kumi squeezed his hand until he hurt. She coughed and a fine spray of blood escaped her mouth. “No, no! No, no!” she cried out as the drone lowered another stone slab on top of her. “Ko-Kogami, please! Not much time.”

Kogami held her hand, feeling the warmth draining from her flesh. “I’ll take care of him. You have my word.”

Accepting his assurance, Kumi nodded. Her lips were crimson with blood. “Roninn, you bastard!” she said hoarsely, straining to raise her voice.

Arms crossed behind her back, the hologram of Mi-Yeon rocked back and forth on its heels. “I’m listening.”

“You want a confession?”

“I said—I’m listening.”

“Our last case? The night Kogami killed Barabbas? I was watching from the tunnels. I knew what was coming. You thought that Yemen and I would come to your rescue.”

“Kumi, no!” Yemen screamed. “No!”

“We could have stopped Kogami, even discussed it, but I wanted him to kill you,” Kumi rasped. “Then I’d never have to see your face again or suffer the way you looked at me. I’d never have to feel your hands on my skin ever again.”

“Kumi!” Yemen strained to free himself from beneath the massive stones.

“But Kogami turned out to be a real man, not like you. He showed you a mercy you didn’t deserve. You demanded loyalty from your Enforcers, but you only earned our contempt.” Weakly, she squeezed Kogami’s hand and smiled as her eyes turned back to him. “Remember your promise. I’m counting on you to protect my brother.” With a peaceful sigh, she closed her eyes.

“One should rather die than be betrayed. There is no deceit in death. It delivers precisely what it has promised. Betrayal, though ... betrayal is the willful slaughter of hope.” The hologram was still and silent for a long moment. “Those are the words of playwright Stephen Deitz, painfully rendered. Sweet Kumi, you were truly the strongest of my Horsemen, and I shall miss you the most.” Turning to Kogami, head bowed in sorrow, Mi-Yeon, said, “You have less than two minutes to return to the green room, if you hope to survive. I’ve granted you an extra minute should you wish to retrieve the body. Adieu, sweet Yumi.” The hologram vanished.

With a grinding, mechanized groan, the construction drone came to a standstill. The final weight on Kumi was 600 pounds, 50 pounds short of the weight on her twin brother. There was a hissing noise, and the rear compartments beneath both scales slid downward, allowing the bodies of the twins to fall to the floor.

Kogami caught Kumi’s body as she tumbled from back of the gurney. She felt heavy in his arms. Too heavy for a slight girl of her size. Her torso and hips rotated in an unnatural way.

“You can’t help him, Inspector,” Masaoka said to Akane, his voice grim. “This will go a lot easier if I carry him.” He knelt down and picked Yemen up in his arms.

“Kumi!” Yemen screamed in pain and grief. He gasped and panted from the effort to resist Masaoka. His eyes were red, glistening with tears as he reached out for his sister. “Kumi!”

The amount of time given was ample to return to the green room, but Kogami felt the burden of urgency weighing on his heart and mind. The sense of purpose was heavier than the unconscious woman in his arms. As they hurried into the atrium, Gin was at the green room door, peering out at them. He held the door wide open as Kogami raced toward him.

“You saw?” Masaoka asked. He repositioned Yemen in his arms as Akane closed the door.

“The whole dreadful scene,” Sachi replied, her voice broken. “We watched on the monitors. It was so horrible.”

Ignoring the apprehensive young people, Kogami swiftly made his way back to the sauna area and laid Kumi’s body on one of the massage beds. Checking for a pulse at her wrist, he gave up and went to her neck. With no signs of life, he leaned over her face to listen for breath sounds. Not breathing, unmoving, she laid lifeless beneath him. 

“Kumi, don’t do this,” Kogami whispered. He clasped his hands together, one on top of the over, and earnestly began chest compressions until his skin grew pale from the effort. Mouth watering with the imminent threat of nausea, he stepped back from the table. Staring helplessly at his hands, he didn’t know what else to do.

“Kogami!” Akane hissed. “You can’t give up!” Clasping her hands together, she restarted chest compressions. 

Kogami saw the horrified expression that came across her face. With the first compression, she felt the shattered fragments of Kumi’s breastplate moving beneath her palm. A thick gout of coagulated blood slowly trickled from the corner of Kumi’s mouth and ran down the graceful curvature of her neck and into her hair. 

“Kumi!” Yemen cried. On his knees, with Masaoka at his side, he clung to her limp arm and pressed his grief-stricken face against her hip. “Kumi, please! Don’t go! Don’t leave me!”

Kogami looked up at Akane and saw the utter sadness in her eyes. He reached for her, but she abruptly backed away, pressing herself against the nearest wall as she fought to remain stoic.

“Mr. Masaoka?” Gin said from the corridor.

“Not the best time, Gin. Stay with Sachi,” Masaoka said. Visibly shaken by recent events, he closed the door to give a grieving Yemen some privacy.

“My, my, Mr. Masaoka,” Mi-Yeon said from the corner. “Your crime coefficient is nearing 200. That must be a personal record. Inspector Tsunemori, your hue is legendary, and I see why. Barely breaking a sweat at 53. Impressive. And Kogami, nearly over 300. I am disappointed, especially given that you want to kill me. Even Yemen there, sisterless Yemen, is outperforming you at 405.”

“I became a latent criminal when I questioned the Sybil System’s judgment, and I’ve regretted it ever since because of what it did to my family,” Masaoka said. “But I was right to question. If Sybil’s judgment allowed you to become an Inspector with no reservation, something’s definitely gone wrong with the system.”

The hologram regarded each of them for a tense moment. “No sense of humor. This place is becoming quite a morgue.”

Mortified by the desperation swelling within him, Kogami rubbed his fingers across his face. Horrified, he abruptly pulled his hands away, smelling the faint perfume from Kumi’s clothing. The crestfallen Enforcer threw up his hands in despair and retreated into the corridor and the lounge beyond it.

“Mr. Kogami?” Gin asked.

Kogami shook his head to quiet the boy. He could not be certain how he was going to react to any questions, any need for comfort, or any expression of sentiment. Leaning over the counter, he pushed the reconfigured Dominator aside and noticed with simmering agitation that his hands were shaking. 

His extremities had grown numb, and he could not feel any sensation other than an icy pricking in his fingertips. Light headed and faint, he closed his eyes and struggled to control his breathing. He felt as if he was slowly being choked by an invisible force. The walls were closing in on him, and he was powerless to stop them.

“What’s the matter, Kogami-kun?” Mi-Yeon whispered. She was standing in the center of the room. “You’re not looking very steady on your feet, big brother.”

Kogami swallowed with some difficulty and grit his teeth against a chill that set into the rest of his body. He refused to allow himself to shiver and tensed the muscle groups before they could spasm. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and he sighed wearily, sensing the eyes of Sachi and Gin watching him intently from the changing room.

_Discipline was a painful form of conformity_ , he told himself, _and regret was the cost paid for failure to submit to it_.

Yemen stumbled from the shadowy corridor. Clinging to the wall for support, he took one shambling step toward Kogami as Masaoka gently tried to coax him back into the massage room to rest and to have his injuries tended. 

“Is that it?” Yemen whispered. “Is that the Dominator locked in lethal eliminator mode?”

Kogami had not quite gotten full control of himself, and what little restraint he did have was failing him. “Yemen, I think you should listen to Masaoka and—”

Yemen threw himself to the floor in front of Kogami. Sprawled on his knees, he grasped Kogami’s pant leg to pull himself into an upright position. Reaching for the Dominator, Yemen put the weapon to his head and then laid his finger on the trigger. There was immediate disappointment in his face when the directional voice did not recognize him or his authority to wield the signature gun. “Kogami.”

“Yemen,” Kogami whispered. He was on the verge of an emotional break. “We need to see about those broken ribs. Let Masaoka—”

“The only one here...who can do anything for me...is you.” As tears streamed down his gaunt, pale cheeks, Yemen put the Dominator in Kogami’s hand and bent his finger into the trigger housing. “Don’t let me be alone, Kogami. Let me be with her. With Kumi.” The shattered Enforcer pressed the muzzle of the Dominator against his forehead and waited for judgement. “My crime coefficient is well over regulation. This should work for me.”

“He isn’t wrong,” Mi-Yeon said. With one arm crossed over her chest, she scratched at her chin while staring up at the ceiling in thought. “The accepted value for Enforcers is much higher than that of the standard civilian. I never intended for you to kill an Enforcer, but I don’t have an issue with it.” She put her hands behind her back. “Go ahead, Kogami-kun, kill him.”

Masaoka stepped out of the corridor. “Ko!”

“Kogami, don’t!” Akane cried.

“Please, Kogami,” Yemen whispered. “Let me be with my sister!”

“Kill him!”

Kogami heard a gasp of fright from the back of the room where Sachi watched in terror with a fearful Gin at her side. “Mr. Kogami, you can’t.”

“He won’t,” Gin said tearfully. “He wouldn’t do it.”

“Kill him!” Mi-Yeon cried impatiently. “Kill him now!” To emphasize the urgency of the avatar’s demand, Argus took a defensive position near the hologram and growled malevolently. “Kill him now!”

Remembering his promise to Kumi, Kogami bit the inside of his lip until he tasted blood. He glared from beneath the damp, black forelock of his hair, scowling at Mi-Yeon and the foxhound bristling on the floor. From them, he looked into the hardened eyes of his colleagues from the PSB, and finally to the frightened expressions on Gin and Sachi’s faces.

“The Sybil System has a cruel sense of irony,” he said, managing a brief, uncertain chuckle. “As an Inspector I was expected to be my brother’s keeper. As an Enforcer, I was his executioner.” Kogami turned to the hologram. “I’m many things, Roninn, but I am not a murderer.”

Kogami put the reconfigured Dominator back on the counter and laid a reassuring hand on Yemen’s head. “I’m sorry about Kumi, Yemen. I know how much you loved her. I know she was your world. But right now, I need you to be the Enforcer that she was. I need you to be the Enforcer she would have wanted you to be and help me find a way out of this mess.” 

Yemen collapsed on the floor, blood spotting in the corners of his mouth, and wept uncontrollably between ragged gasps for air. 

Whispering encouragement to the badly injured Enforcer, Masaoka covered him up with a blanket and knelt down at his side.

“How unfortunate. How boring,” Mi-Yeon whispered. “You have one hour until the next test.” The hologram faded, and Argus sat down to observe them in its absence.

With no words of comfort of his own to offer, Kogami walked out of the lounge and made his way to the bathroom.

# # #

Sitting on the bathroom floor, Kogami sighed wearily and massaged the tension throbbing beneath the bridge of his nose. He heard quiet footsteps and looked up, expecting to find Argus’ five eyes staring back at him. Instead, he saw Akane standing in the doorway. 

Her face was still smeared with blood and soot, and her eyes were red with the threat of tears. Unhurried, she walked into the room and slid down the wall into a sitting position beside him.

“Has something happened?” he asked.

“No. You were gone a long time, and I got worried.”

Rubbing his eyes, Kogami nodded. “I just needed to be alone.”

“The last thing you need is to be alone, Kogami.” She took his hand and squeezed his long fingers. 

“Akane,” he said, his voice shaking. “I-I don’t know what to do.”

“Roninn’s trying to break you.”

“I know.”

“The man I know would not be broken. The man I love,” her voice cracked for a moment, “would not be broken by so small a man as Roninn. No matter what that bastard threw at him.”

Kogami bowed head and swallowed hard. He squeezed her hand until the knuckles cracked. She was his only anchor in the maelstrom, and he struggled to hold on to what little was left of his sanity. “I know.”

“Then find a way out of this. For all of us.”

Kogami fought his way to a subtle smile. “Is that an order, Inspector?”

Akane ran hand across the nape of his neck and kissed him passionately on the lips as tears streamed from her eyes. “Yes.”

Kogami laid down on his side, resting his head in her lap. On the edge of a darkness that he had never experienced in his life, he needed her by his side to continue the fight. Holding his left hand against his injury, he took a deep breath and felt himself relax for the first time since being lured into Roninn’s trap.

“You shouldn’t do that,” Akane whispered. “You’ll start the bleeding again.”

“It hurts less if I keep a little pressure on it.”

She pulled his hand away, interlacing their fingers, and held it against his chest to prevent him from touching the injury again.

“I don’t deserve you.”

“You don’t serve this,” she replied.

Kogami closed his eyes and let himself sink into her warmth. 

“May I ask you a question?”

“Whatever you want.”

Akane stroked his head, running her fingers slowly through his black hair. “Ginoza told me something before we left headquarters last night.”

“Wait. Is this where you tell me that you’re really in love with Gino instead of me?”

“Kogami, would you be serious?” She playfully pinched his cheek. “He said that he found records of contact between you and my grandmother. My parents, too.”

He was too tired to get angry at the intrusion into his privacy and too defeated to find fault with the Senior Inspector. “Ginoza doesn’t know when to leave well enough alone, does he?”

“Is it true? You reached out to my grandmother and my parents?”

Kogami sighed softly. “Yes.”

“May I ask why?”

“While you have invited a latent criminal into your life, your family hasn’t had the opportunity to make that decision for themselves.”

“So you went to see them?”

“Your grandmother first. When she accepted my invitation, I asked Inspector Takizawa to accompany me.”

“What did she say?”

“That I was too thin, and that if I wanted to gain any weight while I was with you, I would have to do all of the cooking.” Kogami laughed, as did Akane, and then regretted it when the movement caused a stabbing pain in his abdomen.

“Ssh,” she hushed as he groaned in her lap.

Kogami held onto his wound to support the weakened muscles, but continued to laugh until the pain overwhelmed him. “So,” he rasped, “with her blessing, I contacted your parents.”

“You had to know Ginoza would find out.”

“I didn’t care.” Kogami took a deep, guarded breath. “I don’t care what Ginoza thinks. Or what Kasei thinks. I don’t care about any of them. I only care about your opinion and the opinion of your family. That’s all that matters.”

“Did you meet my parents?”

“They were quite welcoming, especially your father. He was pleased to know that I held your safety above all others. Your mother made me swear to it.”

“They approved?”

“They’re wonderful people, Akane. Beautiful people. Better than I deserve.” He hesitated as a hot tear fell on his cheek, followed by a second and third. He tried to sit up to comfort her, but she held him firmly in her lap.

“We cannot stay here, Kogami. We have to get these people out of here.” Her voice shook with emotion and more tears fell from her eyes, landing hot on his skin. “Roninn is trying to make you question who and what you are.”

“Akane.” Kogami pressed through her trembling hands and sat up. Taking her face in his hands, he wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“You became a latent criminal as a result of your unrelenting pursuit of the law. You are not a perversion of justice, but Roninn is.” Akane tilted her head into his palm and held onto his hand. “He’s trying to corrupt you and make you into the monster that he is.” She shook her head and averted her gaze. “I didn’t listen to you when you suspected something was wrong. I called you paranoid and teased you. I’m no better than Ginoza. And for that, I am so sorry, Kogami.”

Kogami stared into her eyes. He brushed the bangs from her face and committed every curve to memory, omitting the reddening of her eyes and the sheen of tears on her cheeks. In a few hours, he was not certain he would ever see her again. Though he was prepared for that harsh reality, he had to protect her from it. “There’s only one way we’re getting out of here.” Before she could question him, he kissed her passionately, brushing his lips against hers. “Together.”


	4. Round 4

Kogami leaned against the door frame between the lounge and the family-changing room. Without the support, he wasn’t certain that he could have remained standing at all. Despite the pain of his injury, fatigue, and desperation, he quietly watched Sachi with a smile on his face.

She was sitting at a changing station for infants with her arms propped up on pillows. Her head moved subtly from side to side as if she was tracking an elusive insect solely with her eyes. The Xbox Ultima headset that she wore glowed brilliantly in the dimness. Twin optical lenses flashed with an explosion of pixels that only she could see.

“Feeling better?”

“Mr. Kogami?” The golden optics went dark, and she turned to him with a smile. “Sorry, bad habit. When I’m stressed, I play video games.”

“Don’t be sorry. I’m used to it, remember?”

“Mr. Kagari? Yeah, he’s a virtual reality OG.”

Kogami entered the room, hands in his pockets, and stood beside her. “I’d rather have him chasing some fallen Elven god than pestering me in the office.”

“Ah, Mr. Kogami, there’s nothing wrong with those of us who play the champion in the digital world. It makes us feel special, if only for a few hours, so that we can cope in the real one.” She grinned, tilting to her head to the side so that she could look up at him. “Not everyone can be a real hero like you.”

Kogami frowned. “Not feeling much like a hero, Sachi.”

The smile faded from her face. “I feel sorry for you, Mr. Kogami. It’s like we’re trapped in a badass boss raid gone bad, and almost everyone in the party is dead or so badly injured they can’t risk the final fight.” Sachi sighed, her eyes welling with tears. “Only in this boss fight, there’s no heading back to the campfire to regroup after you die. This is real. It’s permanent.”

“Care to tell me how this thing works?” Kogami picked up Gin’s headset and put it on his head. “Thought you needed a monitor for these gaming consoles.”

“Not the Ultima Xbox. It doesn’t really need a console of any kind. And it can hijack the nearest display, but it works best alone with its own built-in holo optics. I prefer it that way. Just opt out of an external display.”

A second crystal optic emerged from the first lens and transformed the changing room into a spacious garage. As both optical lens lit up to create the illusion, Kogami looked around, feeling off balance and bumped into a bean bag chair at his feet.

“You better sit down before you hurt yourself, Mr. Kogami.”

“Too late for that.”

“This isn’t not like interior holography. Depending on the game, you can really get yourself hurt just by walking around in an environment that doesn’t match the one you are seeing. To interact with the environment, you’ll need the game controller.”

Kogami picked up the controller and looked around the garage, which was an elaborate mechanic’s bay. It was accurate to the measure, complete with professional tool boxes and a hydraulic car jack in the center of the room. He reached out and tried to pick up a wrench. On a whim, he dropped it. The tool clattered noisily on the concrete floor, and the sound resonated in the speakers above his ears. Working the controls, Kogami retrieved it and put it back on the counter.

“Amazing. Sounded so real.”

In the game, Sachi’s avatar laughed and wrapped her arms about her torso. She was dressed in a black, leather racing suit that hugged every suggestive curve. Her face was hidden beneath a glossy mask that was attached to a black helmet. “The next big gaming innovation will be a direct, nerve gear connection. A full virtual dive that will give you all the senses: taste, smell, even touch. But until that becomes a reality, the Ultima Xbox is the next best thing. A quality product.”

“This is _Destiny Road_ , the racing simulation?”

“Can’t believe Mr. Kagari never talked you into a race at least once.”

“How do I play?”

“Lucky for you, I’m not up for a downhill run,” Sachi said with an anxious chuckle, “but I can walk you through the basics rather than embarrass you in a head-to-head race.”

“Take it easy on an old man, okay?”

“Right. Hit the New Player button there. Now type in your handle.”

“What does that mean?” Kogami asked.

“Your gamer tag. It’s how other players will recognize you. But we’re not on the internet, so you can skip that part.”

“Might as well get the full experience,” the Enforcer said. He deleted the kanji of his name and typed in a more appropriate tag.

“Patriarch Cerberus?” Sachi said. “Sounds tough. Sounds really tough. Now we have to pick a car.”

“Can I get a Porsche 911?”

“Fantastic taste, Mr. Kogami, but a little out of your price range at this level. Lucky for you, I know a hack. Type in this code: 1MS0R1CH.”

Kogami noted that as the code went in, his garage fund went from $55,000 to $5,000,000. “Will that be enough?”

“More than enough. Trust me! I don’t suggest you get any modifications. You should have no issues blowing away the competition with a Level 5 car.”

Kogami had his avatar get into the car. “What’s next?”

“You race.”

“Alone?”

“No, silly, the computer can give you 2 to 6 other competitors.”

“What if I want to race against other real life players?”

“Told you, we’re not live. Normally, you would be taken to a room with potential contenders, but we’re offline. You’ll have to race by yourself or with the computer because there’s no way—” She hesitated as a gamer tag suddenly appeared in the wait queue. “Hold on a minute—”

Kogami put his hand on her thigh and gave a slight squeeze. He nodded subtly toward the front of the room, where Argus was sitting in the doorway watching them.

“Who’s Virgil?” she whispered.

Kogami pretended not to hear her question. “How do I play?”

Slow to respond, Sachi said, “Right trigger is the throttle. Left trigger is the brake.” Her inquisitive brown eyes questioned more than what she could say, and there was no way to safely convey what was happening with Roninn’s drone in the room. “If you’re feeling reckless in the corners, tap the A button. That’s the e-brake.”

“Got it.” Kogami sat in the pole position and waited for the contender’s vehicle to appear. 

A yellow Corvette C4 appeared beside him and took its place on the line. When the light turned green, Kogami maneuvered his digital car onto the track at a moderate speed. Virgil followed, allowing him to take the lead. The Enforcer made no effort to outrun his opponent and tapped rhythmically at the brake lights. As Kogami drifted slowly into the straightaway, Virgil’s car deftly drove ahead of him. The Corvette’s brake lights lit up in a similar rhythmic response of short and longer flashes.

“As wonderful as this display of patriarchal compassion is,” Mi-Yeon said from the doorway, “you have other business to attend to, Kogami-kun.”

Startled, Sachi gasped and involuntarily flexed her fingers. The sudden spasm aggravated her injured forearms, the traumatized muscles, and nerves. “Mr. Kogami?”

Removing the headset, Kogami stood up and held both of her hands in his. “Fear can never win, Sachi.” He brushed her bangs to the side and kissed her forehead tenderly. “We must not be moved by fear, but we must always be ready.” He winked at her. “Be ready.”

She nodded resolutely, understanding the dual meaning of his words. “You can count on me.”

# # #

Standing beneath the escalator platform, Kogami hesitated in front of the fourth door. He stared at the green light above the mantle, which cast an eerie glow over the walls, the checkered floor, and the menacing profile of the drones that stood sentinel in the shadows. Like the other doors, there was a message inscribed on a bronze plaque: _The Consequence of Power_. 

“Ko?” Masaoka whispered from behind him.

“I keep wondering when the face on the other side of the door will be my mother’s. Or Mi-Yeon’s.” Kogami exhaled in fear, his desire to save his family burning as hotly as his need for revenge. Time was running out. _For me and them_ , he thought. What little strength he had was failing. Faltering in resignation, he reluctantly opened the door.

A warm breeze blew across his face. Carrying a faint antiseptic scent, the air fanned through his hair and fluttered in the folds of his clothing. With only seconds left to enter the room, Kogami stood fast and resisted.

“He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot will be victorious,” Mi-Yeon whispered, stepping inside the room. “You’ve been so compliant through these gladiatorial games. I would hate to see it end in an act of cowardice. Not now.”

“Sun-Tzu also said that if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.”

“Do you think you know me so well, Kogami-kun?” The holo tilted her head and stared up at him through the slits of the kabuki mask.

“Enough to have put you in an isolation cell forever.” Kogami hid a grin by turning his head to look around the room. His candid retort was met with silence.

Clapping her hands, the holo activated a band of lights in the ceiling directly above them. On the ornate sculpture of the cornice above them, written in elegant script, was a message: **Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it; and this I know, that where laws end, tyranny begins.**

“That’s a quote from William Pitt’s playbook,” Masaoka said. “He was a British Prime Minster notorious for his lack of emotional intellect as well as his arrogance.” He glanced at Kogami with a weary defiance in his eyes. “Sound familiar?”

“Definitely.”

“Your sense of humor has returned, Mr. Masaoka,” Mi-Yeon said. “Keep it close. You’re going to need it.”

Dim atmosphere lights came on in the rear of the large room. Activated by a timer, the ceiling lights winked on with an orchestrated clicking that rolled from the middle of the room to the front, where Kogami and his companions stood. Strategically placed, the lights illuminated the silhouettes of two massive bulls without revealing any detail. Though hidden in shadow, the regal sculptures stood 16-feet high and were nearly as long.

“The bull, for centuries, has stood as a symbol of physical strength, nobility, and sexual prowess because of its virility. It is also a symbol of aggression and a take-charge attitude, so it is no surprise that the bankers of Wall Street and other financial capitals of the globe have adopted the beast as their mascot and a symbol of their power. But power has its consequences.”

In the rear of the room, the ceiling lights came on and revealed the true nature of the magnificent bulls. The first sculpture was beautifully cast in burnished bronze. With its head thrown upward as if gazing at a far away sun, the bull’s great horns were curled back over its metal shoulders. Beneath the enormous animal, appearing like fiery blossoms, tongues of fire licked at the bronze beast’s belly. The flames grew more intense, and a mournful, drawn-out bellowing reverberated from the bulls’s mouth.

“Oh dear, things are heating up much faster than I anticipated,” Mi-Yeon said, feigning worry. “Allow me to give you a quick assessment of the situation.”

A large monitor on the wall powered on and displayed the grainy black and white image of a frightened young woman. She appeared to be in a small, confined space and moved erratically as if in pain. There was no audio, but there was no need for sound. The panic in the women’s sooty, tear-streaked face was readily interpreted as a desperate plea for help. 

Kogami recognized the terrified face of Etsuko, Kurosawa’s eldest daughter and stiffened in alarm. His chest tightened with the realization that she was inside the bronze bull as it was being heated by the flames on the pedestal below it. Her screams for help were being emitted as the low-tonal bellowing of the beast.

Opposite the bronze bull, its equally majestic, identical twin stood on the other side of the room. It was made of a lucid, crystal material that refracted even the smallest emission of light. A trio of strong spotlights magnified and enhanced the shimmering reflection of water moving inside of it. 

Another young woman, who was dressed in a scintillating green, ball gown, struggled within the watery confines of the bull belly. She gasped her last breath of air as the water leveled up inside the sculpture and completely filled it. Water began to spring from its mouth like a fountain. In imminent danger of drowning, the young woman panicked and pounded her hands against the crystal sides.

“Is that Miss Okamato, Mr. Kurosawa’s personal assistant?” Akane asked. 

“Power is the currency of politics. Money is the currency of power. Thus, when dealing with the rich and the powerful, unless you have political prowess or financial might, your voice is muffled in the maelstrom of social and legal entanglements.” Mi-Yeon pointed toward the bulls. “The only currency that gets the attention of the aristocracy is blood. If there is one thing more valued to Kurosawa than his financial holdings, it is his children, even the illegitimate one.”

Abruptly, the monitor went black with a violent implosion as the intense heat building up inside the bronze bull cracked the lens and destroyed the device. The footage was replaced with a timer that read 10 minutes.

“The task is obvious,” Mi-Yeon said. “Legitimacy or illegitimacy? Which one will you choose to save?”

“Both of them!” Kogami shouted. “Masaoka!”

“One step ahead of you, Ko!”

While his fellow Enforcer moved toward the bronze bull, Kogami ran to the crystal one. Taking a quick assessment of the sculpture, he wrapped his hands around one of the legs and gave it a hard pull and then a shove. The sculpture did not budge. 

Stripping out of her jacket, Akane joined him. She used the coat as leverage on the thinner section of the leg and pulled in an aggressive attempt to topple the crystal bull. “This thing has to weigh a ton or more.”

“Don’t need to pick it up. Just break it. Get back,” Kogami said. He executed a powerful spinning wheel kick. He could hear the wind whipping as he threw the powerful kick, but the Enforcer was not prepared for the sudden stop. His heel met the crystal leg and went not farther. The bull’s immovable countermeasure threw him to the wooden floor in a writhing heap. “Dammit!”

“Kogami!” Akane helped him to his feet.

Kogami limped cautiously on his throbbing heel and ankle. He grit his teeth and took a few faltering steps as Miss Okamato noticed him and desperately pounded on the glass. She clasped her hands over her mouth and looked frantically for some means to escape her crystal tomb. 

Turning to observe Masaoka’s struggles with the bronze bull, Kogami watched the frustrated Enforcer’s failed attempts to stifle the heat source firing beneath it. “See if you can help, Masaoka.”

“What are you going to do?” Akane bunched her coat in her hands.

“Better if you don’t know,” Kogami said with a half-cocked smile. “Because it’s probably going to hurt. A lot.” He took the coat from her hands and used it as a means to reach the bull’s horns. Avoiding the fountain of water spraying from its mouth, he climbed onto its broad head. He worked his way to the wall, carefully maneuvering over the slippery surface, and braced his back and shoulders against it. 

“Ko!” Masaoka called.

“Little busy, pops,” Kogami replied through grit teeth. Breathing to give his body a boost of strength, he wedged himself into the slight space between the bull and the wall and pushed.

“We may have a problem.”

Kogami risked a glance over to the older Enforcer and Akane, but he could not ascertain any other urgency than getting Kurosawa’s daughter out of the bronze bull or removing the heating source from beneath her unconventional prison before she suffocated. He was one man, and for the moment, his attention was on getting Angel Okamato out of the crystal sculpture before she drowned.

Muscles straining, he utilized his breathing to coordinate his actions. On the inhale, he gave a sustained push with his legs. Keeping his back braced against the wall, he relaxed on the exhale. It was a preposterous idea, but it was all he had left, and he kept up the rhythmic pressure until there was a minute give in the sculpture’s base. 

“Dammit!” Masaoka swore.

Kogami saw Akane standing on the opposite side of the metal behemoth. The muffled cries of the bellowing of the bull grew weaker, coming fewer and farther apart. Using the discarded gold sheet, Akane unsuccessfully attempted to smother the flames beneath her coat. Meanwhile, Masaoka was trying to punch his way through the bronze skin with his prosthetic hand. Despite their efforts, the flames beneath the bull grew more intense, licking at the metal belly.

Kogami closed his eyes. He tried not to imagine the suffering of the girl trapped inside the bronze bull. Etsuko was being smothered to death, while simultaneously being cooked by the heat. The thought of her revitalized him. With a controlled deep breath, he pushed until his thighs burned and trembled with the effort. Again, he felt another, bigger shift in the crystal sculpture.

“Keep it up, Ko!” Masaoka shouted. “But hurry. We need you down here.”

The sense of urgency in his voice was not lost on Kogami. Inside the watery cocoon, Angel was growing more frantic. As Kogami strained to get more leverage on the bull, she took her first involuntarily gasp of water. Eyes rolling into the back of her head, she convulsed as her lungs reacted to the intrusion. 

Kogami wedged himself more firmly into the space between the bull and the wall. Sweating profusely from the effort, he pushed harder. On this attempt, he was rewarded when the spout of water was temporarily interrupted. Ignoring the risk of being crushed, Kogami propped himself up and leaned his weight into a desperate leg press squat to drive the bull away from the wall. 

With a splintering reminiscent of wind chimes, the bull’s right front leg shattered under the strain. Top heavy with water, the left front leg buckled beneath the burden. The sculpture rolled precariously to the side away from the wall and fell to the floor in slow motion. Despite the drainage from a multitude of cracks and fissures in the legs, the water level remained at a dangerous level.

The weight of the water sped up the imminent fall and brought the bull crashing down. When the flank of the crystal beast hit the wooden floor, the rest of the heavy sculpture fractured into jagged fragments that scattered in all directions in a sudden high tide of water. Angel’s unconscious body was thrown among the broken crystal like a mermaid stranded on a sandy shore.

Kogami landed beside her on his back. Stunned for a moment, he slowly got to hands and knees and crawled to Angel’s side. Though physically uninjured, she had ceased breathing, but the fall and the jarring collision had been powerful enough to force the water from her lungs. Frantically grasping for the Enforcer, she tried to speaking, but could only gasp and wheeze for air. A violent fit of coughing expelled the remaining water trapped in her lungs through her nose and throat. Overcome by emotion and the trauma, she weakly thrashed on the floor and sobbed. 

“You’re safe now.” Kogami threw his coat over her trembling shoulders. “I’ve got you.” Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the countdown on the monitor. They had less than two minutes to return to the green room. “Masaoka!”

“Kogami, there’s no way in to this damn thing!” came Masaoka’s desperate reply. “There’s no hatch. No doorway. The bastard never planned for this girl to make it out of there alive.” 

“Very perceptive, Mr. Masaoka,” Mi-Yeon said with a celebratory clap. “Had you wasted a second of time on the bronze bull, Miss Okamato might not be among the living. How fortunate for her.”

Momentarily leaving Angel’s side, Kogami ran to the bronze bull with the intention of freeing Etsuko at any cost, but the situation was as genuinely dire as Masaoka reported. There no doorway or release to reach the girl trapped inside. The bull’s outer skin was smooth, absolutely seamless with no obvious panels or hidden levers. 

Infuriated by the hopelessness of the task, Kogami punched at the bronze behemoth with both fists. He managed nothing more than the bruising and singeing of the skin across his knuckles. “Why!” he demanded, turning on the avatar. 

“If it makes that restless conscience of yours feel any better, I meant for both of these women to die,” Mi-Yeon replied. “One of them was going to die no matter what you did here.“

“You son of a bitch!” Kogami stood up aggressively. His hands were clenched in trembling fists.

“It has come to good, has it not? The illegitimate child lives. Kurosawa still has an heir, though it is not the one he intended. This is the consequence of power! The bloody tides turn without whim or notice, making casualties of both the innocent and the guilty.”

“Ko, we’re running out of time!” Masaoka said. “We’ve got to get her back to the green room. Nothing we can do for the other girl now.”

The bellowing of the bronze bull had stopped. Kogami was not certain when; regardless, the flames beneath the bronze bull continued to burn unabated. While it was a disturbing death, Etsuko was certainly dead and beyond any more suffering or torture that Roninn could devise. 

Kogami scooped Angel up in his arms. “Pops, cover Akane. This is going to be close.”

Ten seconds is all they had left of the time when they fled from the room. The scent of burning meat permeated the room with a sickly, sweet scent that stung Kogami’s nostrils as he ran into the darkness of the atrium. Protectively trailing behind Kogami, Masaoka herded Akane ahead of him as the younger Enforcer carried the weeping woman toward the safety of the green room. 

The drones came to life as the time ran out and made any route through the short passage back to the green room difficult and disorienting. Swaying back and forth, the Komissa-chan holos closed in on them with arms extended to assail and maim the fleeing prisoners. “ _Attention. Attention. You are in a restricted area. Do not resist. Your execution will be immediate. This message will now repeat._ ”

As the drones converged on them, Kogami sidestepped one and lost his footing, nearly dropping Angel to keep her away from its whirling blades. “Masaoka!”

“Get that civilian to safety!” Masaoka shouted. He defensively extended his prosthetic arm as two drones came at Akane and him with their rotating blades. 

Rushing into the green room, Kogami roughly set Angel down on the loveseat. Akane ran passed him into the sanctuary. “Stay with her,” Kogami said. As he turned on his heel to return to the atrium to assist to Masaoka, the Enforcer veteran came stumbling into the room. 

The veteran’s shirt was torn and bloodstained. Sweating and breathing hard, Masaoka promptly slammed the door shut and leaned against it as a precaution. He met Kogami’s eyes for a moment. A thin forelock of brown hair quivered above his brows as he fought to catch his breath. “A bit too close for comfort.”

“You alright, pops?”

Masaoka nodded. “I’m good. You?”

On the verge of collapsing, Kogami shook his head. 

“You heard what Roninn said, Ko. He meant for one of them, if not both, to die.” Masaoka put a hand on Kogami’s shoulder. “Gin, there’s some blankets in the massage room. We’re going to need them.”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Masaoka.” Gin darted from the family-changing room and disappeared into the corridor leading to the sauna.

“We just left her there to die.” Kogami stared at the floor.

“She was already dead,” Masaoka said. “No telling how long those burners had been going. Even if we did get her out, she might not have survived.”

“Mr. Masaoka is correct, Kogami-kun,” Mi-Yeon said, coming through the door. “Etsuko had been on simmer for some time before your arrival. I miscalculated how tender she was and left the heat on a bit too long.”

“Son of a bitch!” Kogami launched himself at the holo, but before he could get to it, Argus was on top of him.

The foxhound leaped at Kogami, knocking him to the floor. It landed squarely on his chest and torso. Using its crushing weight to pin the Enforcer, the aggressive drone proceeded to dig into his flesh with all four of its razor-sharp claws. The left hind leg ripped through the pressure bandaged and tore open his puncture wound as Kogami writhed in pain beneath it.

Kogami cried out in agony, but managed to keep his wits as a mouthful of wickedly sharp teeth repeatedly gnashed at his face. Muscles trembling with the effort, he wrapped his hands around the drone’s neck and held back the metallic frenetic muzzle. 

Unable to get in a bite, Argus whipped its tail wildly from side to side to find a swift path to blood. The pincers scissored rapidly with malicious intent, feinting in one direction before striking and finding their mark from another vantage point. 

Barely managing to block an attempt to gouge out his eye, Kogami grit his teeth and flinched as the tip of the tail lanced him and cut across his chin. He gasped as the foxhound abruptly flexed its claws and dug even deeper into his exposed skin. While he was distracted by the pain, the drone wrapped its tail around one of his wrists and yanked a hand from its neck so that it could extend its reach toward Kogami’s face to bite him. 

The drone was heavy and powerful. Kogami’s arm trembled as he tried to keep his hand in place at its neck. He wasn’t strong enough to fend off the drone with one hand. Raking at the Enforcer’s chest, Argus yanked a hand free and lunged. 

There was little to protect Kogami from the mouthful of teeth coming at his face. Anticipating the painful bite, he closed his eyes, turned his head, and waited. But when the bite did not land, he opened his eyes to find Masaoka leaning over him on one knee. 

As if he were a shield bearer protecting a fallen comrade, Masaoka jammed his prosthetic arm into the foxhound’s mouth and shoved the drone back with a powerful elbow strike. Ragged from his recent fight with the drones in the atrium, material from the ruined shirt hung in tatters from his prosthetic limb.

Argus relented by letting go and falling back to get a better position. Some of its teeth were dislodged by the blow and fell noisily to the wooden floor. Crouching down with a menacing growl, the drone poised itself for a second lunge.

“Steady, Argus,” Mi-Yeon said. “If I wanted Mr. Kogami dead, we could have accomplished that some hours ago.” Clucking her tongue in disappointment and shaking her head, the kabuki-masked holo shrugged its shoulders. “This is highly unusual. I had not expected you to keep your composure so evenly throughout these trials.”

“I’m not sorry to disappoint you,” Kogami replied. He took Gin’s hand and got to his feet, as Masaoka covered them to make certain the drone did not attack again. Hunched over, he stared down at his shirt as blood made a crimson canvas of it.

“This calls for an exceptional resolution.” 

“And what the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“You’ve won, Mr. Kogami.” 

“What?”

“You’ve passed each of my tests,” Mi-Yeon said, “though not entirely unscathed.”

“Then let us out of here,” Kogami demanded. “At least let them go free.”

“Agreed! But a price must be paid for all my trouble.”

“A price?”

“I demand a life.”

“You’ve already got me!” Kogami shouted. “I won’t fight you!”

“Kogami, no!” Akane cried. Beside her, Angel shook her head to voice her own objections to the notion.

“Not a good idea, Ko,” Masaoka said. The Enforcer winced, leaning against the wall as Gin tended to his injuries.

“Mr. Kogami, don’t do it,” Sachi whispered.

“Your life is of little value to me, Shinya Kogami. Not anymore. These are my terms: I will let them all go free, unharmed more or less, but Inspector Akane Tsunemori must die by your hand. Kill her and I will let you and the others go free right now.”

As if struck in the chest, Kogami stepped back until his back met the wall. “You—you cold bastard.” The monitor beside him flashed intermittently with his identification picture and a rising crime coefficient of 355.

“It is a steep price to pay, but a fair one considering you gain six lives for the price of only one. Blood is never an inexpensive option, Kogami-kun.”

“You son of a whore!” Sachi screamed from the back room.

“Being the son of a whore might be something,” Gin said to the hologram of Mi-Yeon. He shook his head in disgust. “You’re nothing in my eyes.” 

“Such bad manners from such seemingly well-bred young people.” Mi-Yeon turned to the children with a menacing glare and abruptly smiled.

“Good manners are reserved for those who deserve to receive them,” Gin said. He bowed deeply to Kogami. “I can never compensate you for saving my life, Mr. Kogami, again. Nor can I thank you for the constant reminders of what a good citizen should be, regardless of your status as a latent criminal. The price required here is too high. I will not leave this room.”

“Me, either!” Sachi added.

“Nor me,” Angel said, her voice strained and hoarse from a raw throat.

“Enforcer Kogami,” Mi-Yeon growled, “you will be brought to heel, or you will die.”

“Think so, Roninn? I do nothing for you pleasure, not anymore.” Pressing a forearm against his abdomen, he watched his crime coefficient soar to 395 with the dark thoughts in his mind.

“If you do not kill Inspector Tsunemori, you all will die. That I swear to you. And you, Mr. Kogami, will be the last to perish.” Mi-Yeon walked to the door and drew herself upright before bowing respectfully to all in the room. “I will watch each of these people die excruciating deaths, and then I will send my drones to slowly flay your body over their bloody remains. You have fifteen minutes to decide.” As the holo stepped through the door into the darkness beyond it, the monitor on the wall began the countdown.

Shaking uncontrollably, Kogami raised his hands to his head and grabbed onto tufts of his hair. With his hands balled in frustration, he pulled until the roots ached. His breathing was labored and heavy. Sweat beaded on his forehead. Enraged, he launched a savage punch at the alcove mirror and further shattered the glass, leaving a second bloody imprint on the fragmented reflection of his rising madness.

“Kogami!” Akane said sharply. She ran to him and wrapped her arms around his trembling body. Laying her head against his heaving chest, she whispered, “Hold me.”

He couldn’t do it. The rage in him was so great that all he could think about was lunging again at the foxhound and tearing it apart with his bare hands. He would destroy as much of the drone as he could before it killed him.

“Kogami, please, just hold me.” She spun him away from the frightening visage in the mirror and forced him to look at her. “Now that you’ve broken the ice, don’t you think we need to take my grandmother on a picnic?”

_She has her grandmother’s eyes_ , Kogami thought.

Burying his face in the graceful curve of her neck, Kogami swept Akane into his muscular arms and held her tightly. It was a firm, powerful embrace, but she did not squirm to be free from it as he wrestled to regain control of himself.

“Kogami, don’t look yet,” Akane whispered in his ear, “but something’s wrong with that Dominator. It’s flashing blue and then red. It wasn’t doing that before.”

Kogami leaned back onto the counter. Subtly leaning his forehead against her hers, he eyed the weapon and saw that it was pulsing in a familiar, sequential pattern. 

“What is it?”

“Morse Code.”

“What’s it saying?”

Kogami closed his eyes and kissed her tenderly on the forehead before embracing her again. “If I cannot raise Heaven, then I will raise hell.”

“That sounds like something Vigil would say? But how—”

“Stay with them, pops,” Kogami said to Masaoka. He picked up the Dominator and took Akane’s hand, leading her from the lounge.

“Kogami?” There was a menace in the older Enforcer’s voice.

“This doesn’t concern you, old man.” 

“Kogami, don’t give Roninn what he wants,” Yemen pleaded. He struggled to stand up but collapsed back into his chair, hindered by his broken ribs and other injuries. “That bastard will kill us all regardless of what you do.”

“You’re going to have to trust me.” Kogami led Akane into the corridor and then into the bathroom.

In a male voice, the Dominator’s directional voice said, “ _Dominator Portable Psychological Diagnosis and Suppression System has been deactivated. User authentication: Online—Shinya Kogami—Patriarch Cerberus. Affiliation: Epic Hero. Distress signal confirmed. You are a valid user_.” 

“Virgil, I see you got my message,” Kogami whispered.

“ _I would ask how may I serve_ ,” the artificial intelligence said, “ _but my assessment of the situation is obvious and dire, so I’ve taken matters into my own hands. Fortunately for you, the insufferable arrogance of madmen ofttimes leads to imperfections, which are exploitable by humble men whose hearts are ruled by moral intent and not conceited objective._ ”

“You can get us out of here?” Kogami asked with a smile. 

“ _Of course, but this adventure is not without its perils, Enforcer Kogami_.

“Understood. I’m grateful, Virgil.”

“ _It’s post time, Cerberus, a race for your life,” the AI said to Kogami. “But first, you’ve got company_.”

Kogami let go of Akane’s hand and turned to the doorway. He heard the clacking of the foxhound’s claws on the tile floor before he saw it.

“ _I will momentarily disrupt the beast_ ,” Virgil said, “ _but you will have to make the fix permanent._ ”

“With pleasure.” 

Argus’ five eyes suddenly went dim and then black. The foxhound’s head drooped toward the floor. Kogami tore the wires out of hairdryer on the wall and attached them to the drone’s metal skin before plugging in the cord. The lights in the bathroom flickered erratically with the surge as the drone convulsed violently in a death spasm. The acrid scent of its demise burned in Kogami’s nostrils and rose with a gray smoke that was emitted from the wire connection.

“Wouldn’t Roninn have seen that?” Akane asked, holding her hand against her chin in fear.

“ _There are hidden cameras all over this suite_ ,” Virgil replied, “ _but I have temporarily disabled them all to work our artifice. There is not much time, Cerberus. You and the other prisoners of this place of sorrow must leave now_.”

“How do we get out of here?”

“ _The way out is the way in_ ,” Virgil said. “ _I have taken the good measure to alert MWPSB of the deception. The cavalry is on its way, but it will not arrive in time to end this game and escort the weary adventurers to home shores. You must be Aeneas, my friend, and_ lead _these people from peril._ ”

“What about the drones in the atrium?” 

There was a brief, distant echo of chuckling. “ _The target’s threat judgement has been reappraised. Enforcement mode: Destroy Decomposer. Please aim calmly and eliminate the target_.” The Dominator vibrated and shook in Kogami’s hands. It elongated and then condensed into itself. Pulsing, the blue and white lights grew more brilliant as the signature weapon of the MWPSB took on its most malevolent and deadliest configuration.

“These Dominators have four shots at full charge, Virgil. There must be 50 of those drones.”

“ _I have increased the power output and widened the yield. This will result in a shotgun effect. The output will not seek a single target, but spread electromagnetic energy over a much larger area. You will have only two shots in this boosted configuration before the inevitable_.”

“The inevitable?”

“ _Sybil does not play nicely when it comes to her toys. There is a price for tampering. The Dominator will cease to function in its normal capacity and may detonate. If this happens, it will take out whoever is holding it and whoever is standing within a 20-foot radius. Progressive implications will arise within 40 yards of the blast, disrupting electronics and disabling communications._ ”

“Great,” Kogami said with a nod. “Two shots and then a frag grenade.”

“ _Hope you throw like an Eagle and not a Patriot,_ ” Virgil said, referencing the 2018 Super Bowl.

Masaoka stepped into the doorway. “Kogami, if I have to break your neck with my own two hands, I’ll do it. You’re not going to play ball with this madman. If we’re going down, we’re going down fighting. All of us.”

“Damn right, pops,” Kogami said, showing him the Dominator.

Masaoka’s eyes widened. “What the hell?” He glanced at the deactivated foxhound that was still smoking in the corner. “Your handiwork?”

“No time to explain.” Kogami took Akane by the arm and led her to the corridor. “Cavalry’s on the way, but we have to get out of here.”

“What if the place is rigged?”

“ _All primary, secondary, and even tertiary boobytraps have been disarmed_ ,” Virgil said to Kogami. “ _But the system is working against my protocols and attempting to reactivate them. These systems will reboot in one minute. The time is now, Cerberus_.”

“This is what we do, right?” Kogami said with a wicked grin.

“This is what we do best, Ko.” Masaoka narrowed eyes and nodded. “When we get out of this hellhole, the first round’s on me.”

“Inspector? Mind organizing the escape?” Kogami hurried into the lounge with his colleagues. 

“We’re leaving,” Akane announced.

“Inspector Tsunemori? Mr. Kogami?” Gin asked.

“We’re making a run for it,” Kogami told him. “Sachi, can you run?”

“As long as it’s not on my hands,” she replied. With her arms thickly bandaged and in slings, she came out of the room.

“Gin, stick with Sachi,” Akane said. “When we make a break for it, stay in the middle of the pack. Mr. Masaoka, can you assist Yemen?”

Masaoka ducked his head under Yemen’s arm. “I’ve got him, Inspector. We’ll go first once Kogami’s clears us some space.”

“Clears some space?” Yemen asked. When he caught sight of the reconfigured Dominator in Kogami’s hand, he smiled. “That will definitely shift the odds in our favor.”

“Miss Okamato,” Akane said. “You stay with me.”

Angel’s eyes flashed with a moment of terror, and she recoiled into the corner of the loveseat. Her damp, black hair hung heavy over her shoulders. “Maybe we should wait—”

“There’s no time to debate this,” Kogami said. 

“I know. Of course, Mr. Kogami,” she said. “Inspector Tsunemori, I’ll be right behind you the whole way.”

Kogami took a moment to look at each of them. Gone was the fear, the doubt, the hesitation. What he saw was determination, strength, and resolve. “We get one shot at this. No matter what happens, we’re not coming back to this room. No more hiding.” 

“No more hiding,” Sachi repeated.

They all nodded to him in deference to his words. “Let’s go home.”


	5. Round 5

Adopting a tactical stance, Kogami cautiously stepped into the atrium. Knees flexed so that he could spring in any direction, he leaned slightly forward with the reconfigured Dominator supported in his outstretched arms. Feet should-width apart, he paused to quickly assess the situation.

No alarm lights went off in the darkness. No klaxons blared to announce an unscheduled departure. The light over the door was red, and remained so, casting a surreal light over him and the checkered floor of the chamber. 

Projecting their perverted versions of the MWPSB mascots, the security drones were idle, as if waiting for him. When the Enforcer took another step, a score of bulbous, bobbing heads, and red eyes turned in unison to stare in his direction. For a moment the Enforcer felt as if he had been transported into a lucid, childhood nightmare in a room with malevolent jack-in-the-box toys. With the hissing of a wasp swarm, the drones’ whirring blades could be heard in the stillness, and they immediately advanced on him.

“ _Attention. Attention. You are in a restricted area. Do not resist. Your execution will be immediate.”_

Kogami never hesitated. Choosing a purposeful direction to clear a path to the base of the escalators, he squeezed the trigger. “Move!” 

The frenetic bolt that erupted from the Dominator was more powerful than anticipated and knocked him back against the wall. Scattered electromagnetic energy fanned outward from the muzzle and made contact with every target with its trajectory. Penetrating the drones’ metal skins, the pulse caused havoc and fried the internal circuitry and command boards. The affected drones spun erratically in circles and crashed into each other in chaotic confusion before the severe electrical disruption in their systems caused them to implode. 

Though the Dominator had the desired effect, vanquishing some fifteen drones, twelve more moved in to replace them. Outnumbered by the encroaching ranks, Kogami swore under his breath and again assumed a tactical firing position. “Virgil?”

“ _The Dominator did not quite have the affect I was hoping for, Cerberus_ ,” the AI said. “ _I’m increasing the output for the final shot._ ”

“Make it good Masaoka!” Kogami yelled, taking aim for a second shot.

With Yemen perched over his shoulder, Masaoka ran for the escalators. “Gin and Sachi, stick close!”

“Right behind you, Mr. Masaoka!” Gin shouted.

Kogami covered them as Akane and Angel ran from the room in the rear position. Leveling the Dominator at the drones, he took a step up the defunct escalator behind the fleeing women and fired the second volley. 

The closest drones vanished in an explosive wave of heat, light, and smoldering debris. On the periphery of his vision, Kogami saw a score of survivors quickly regrouping in the rubble. These few retreated from the base of the escalators and out of the Dominator’s range of fire. Moving to the ramp to access the second level in pursuit, those remaining drones raced to intercept them. 

“Kogami!” Akane shouted from the top of the escalator. She gestured in the direction of their pursuers.

“I see them!” While the odds had shifted, they were all in great danger. If the drones caught up to them, they would still be outnumbered and unarmed. The Dominator vibrated fiercely in Kogami’s hand. He felt the intense heat building from the reconfigured weapon. The grip of the gun grew slick with perspiration. “Virgil, how much time before this damn thing blows?”

“ _Tell me you played sports in high school, Cerberus?_ ” Virgil replied via the directional voice. “ _And tell me it wasn’t golf_.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“ _The Dominator is becoming unstable as I surmised. It will make an effective grenade and maybe take out the remaining drones, if your aim is good. Our connection will be severed once the weapon is destroyed_.”

“You’ve done enough, Virgil. Can’t thank you enough.”

“ _Thank me by surviving this, Cerberus, or my work was for naught. For now farewell, I vanish with the night. You have ten seconds to reach a minimal safe distance_.”

Calculating a lead over the incoming drones, Kogami hurled the Dominator with all the strength that he could muster. The gun arced in the air toward the middle section of the ramp as the weaponized sentries raced up from the subsection floor to intercept them. 

The weapon reconfigured itself into a design that Kogami had never seen before and pulsed malevolently with blue and white tendrils of energy. He smirked at the artificial intelligence’s final Morse Code message as he translated the short and long flashes into words in his mind.

_Kiss your metal asses good bye._

Taking two steps at a time, Kogami ran to the top of the escalator. “Get down!” He pushed Akane and Okamato down to the hard tile floor and tried to cover them with as much of his body as he could. 

Imploding in mid-air, the Dominator ignited in a powerful blast that unleashed destruction in a 360-degree pattern. The concussion of the explosion rocked the entire office complex and caused secondary explosions in its wake. Molten debris flew out of the blast area and pelted Kogami and the other survivors with burning metal from the drones. Concrete rained down from the walls to cover them and the floor in layers of dust.

Akane risked a look back from beneath Kogami’s arm. “Are they down?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Masaoka said. “Here comes the cavalry.”

“Bravo, Mr. Kogami,” Roninn said, his voice broadcasting across their wristcoms. “Take this hollow victory as a wooden rudis for your freedom, but know that it is only temporary. I am not finished with you. _Veni, vidi, vici._ ”

“But you didn’t conquer me, Roninn,” Kogami replied to the Latin. “Remember that.”

Lights flashing intently, a dozen MWPSB drones sped down the long gallery toward them. Glowing with blue highlights, their white bodies were a sharp contrast to their perverted counterparts in the atrium. Splitting up, the drones cordoned off the ramp to prevent any remaining rogue drones from gaining access to the floor. The official, holographic Komissa-chan mascots instantly appeared, bouncing gently left and right to spread calm in the area. 

“ _Your attention please. This is the Criminal Investigation Department of the Public Safety Bureau. For your protection, access to this area is currently restricted under a temporary order. For your continued safety, please move away from the immediate vicinity. If you are in need of mental or medical care, Ministry of Welfare professionals are on site at this time to serve your needs. This message will now repeat_.” 

“Never thought I’d be so happy to see those ridiculous holograms again in my life,” Masaoka said. Leaning on his elbows, he bowed his head and chuckled quietly.

Akane smiled and ran her hand across the nape of Kogami’s neck. She frowned, laying her fingers on his cheek. “Kogami, you’re burning up.”

“Your first order of duty, Inspector, is to the civilians in your charge,” he reminded her. “Get these people out of here.”

“You need medical attention more than they do,” she said.

“I’m right behind you.”

Akane got to her feet and assisted Angel, who was weeping uncontrollably. The traumatized personal assistant clung to Kogami’s jacket and pulled it tightly across her neck and shoulders to ward off the chill. Ahead of them, Masaoka helped Yemen to his feet while guiding Gin and Sachi into the waiting arms of PSB medical personnel.

Kogami tried to keep up with them, but each footstep grew more difficult. There was no one to cling to for support, and he was not going to make the walk out of the complex without help. Determined to keep moving, he reached out to the wall and leaned heavily against it. A trail of smeared blood marked his painful passage. He could see Akane and the others, moving into the gallery away from him, but his eyesight was slowly failing as his consciousness waned in and out.

“Is it really over?” Sachi asked.

“You’re safe now,” said a familiar voice.

“Inspector Takizawa?” Akane said. “Where’s Inspector Ginoza?” 

“On his way to that posh mental care facility with Inspector Ikuko to arrest Masato Roninn for murder and a slew of other charges. The Ministry of Welfare has orders to suspend operations at the facility and shutter it permanently, if it’s determined they were negligent and allowed that fiend to function in the outside world. Arrest warrants have been issued for Roninn, his sister, and her bodyguard as well.”

“Arrest warrants? We haven’t even begun to tell you what happened here. How is there enough evidence to prove their involvement?”

“Someone hacked into the MWPSB mainframe and dumped a server load of surveillance footage and other corroborating evidence into the database. It’s more than enough to indict the Roninn family and authorize the immediate seizure of their business assets and bank accounts.”

Kogami laughed, motivated by that news, but still unable to keep pace. “Hacking into the MWPSB? Nicely done, Virgil,” he whispered.

“Goddammit, Sachi, who do I have to kill!” another familiar voice shouted. “Roninn did this to you?”

“Kagari, not in front of the kids,” Akane scolded. She craned her neck around to see where Kogami was. “Kogami needs help.”

“Say no more.” Holstering his Dominator, the Enforcer gave Sachi’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “If I have to bust myself out of the MWPSB building, I will be there for you in the hospital, okay?”

“Thank you, Mr. Kagari,” Sachi said. “But please help Mr. Kogami. He’s hurt really bad even before that foxhound attacked him.”

Kagari sprinted into the passage. “Ko? Shit, you really are hurt bad. Sit down. Don’t even take another step.” He helped Kogami slide to the floor.

“Took you long enough,” Kogami whispered. He was having trouble breathing.

“Yeah, we were on our way back to HQ when some hacker sent us the distress call. Shion was trying to figure out who it was—got the name Vergilius—and then the hacker told her how sexy she was and locked down the entire server, except the data that they had downloaded. That alone set off all kinds of alarms.” He squirmed out of his coat and draped it over Kogami’s chest.

“Roninn was using a hologram of Mi-Yeon to torment me,” Kogami mumbled.

“I know what you thinking, but it’s okay. Whoever orchestrated that data dump tripped the alarms at Kurosawa Industries, too. Kurosawa security picked up your mother and Mi-Yeon before MWPSB could even arrive on the scene. They’re safe, Ko.” Kagari activated his wristcom to initiate a call.

“Hello?” said a woman’s voice.

In the background of the call, Kogami heard Mi-Yeon’s insistent voice. “Bubbles. Bubbles. Bubbles.”

“Mi-Yeon,” Tomoyo said. “Bubbles is asleep. Let her rest. You can see her in the morning.”

Kogami laughed, straining to look up as his mother’s face appeared on the holo screen.

“Shinya?”

“Kogami-kun. Kogami-kun!” Mi-Yeon’s smiling face appeared in the display, intermittently blocking out his mother’s features as the little girl jumped up and down to see him.

Kogami winced hearing her voice. This was the real Mi-Yeon and not a mockery or trick perpetrated by a madman.

“Mi-Yeon,” Tomoyo scolded, “be a good girl and get ready for bed.”

“Okay,” Mi-Yeon sighed. “Kogami-kun! Love you, big brother!”

Before he could reply, the six-year old was gone, bouncing away in the background. Tomoyo shook her head in wonderment. “That girl. She so reminds me of you.”

“I’m sorry for not being the ideal son.”

“On the contrary, Shinya, I could not have prayed for a better child. A son who would make the ultimate sacrifice to save so many others. Few mothers can say as much. I will always be proud of the man you’ve become.” She paused, squinting as if to see him better. “You look very tired, Shinya. Get some rest.”

“I will.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

“See you soon.” The display went blank.

“Ko?” Kagari tilted his head to the side and raised Kogami’s chin up to examine his face. “Your family’s safe. Do you hear me?” He gently lowered the Enforcer’s head. “Can we get a goddamn gurney over here! And I mean now!”

# # #

A torrential ran fell from the night skies. Akane listened to the heavy drops as they pelleted the roof of the car. Freshly cleaned and bandaged, the cut on her cheek still stung from the antiseptic gel. The wound throbbed angrily and kept rhythm with her heartbeat, but she was too exhausted to notice.

Wrapped in an emergency blanket, she grasped the hem of her skirt in both hands and sobbed uncontrollably until she could get control of herself. Despite sitting in an official Ministry car, surrounded by MWPSB personnel for blocks, and security drones, she felt as if she were still trapped in the green room. 

She longed to be in Kogami’s arms and hear his voice telling her that all was well. But that small comfort was denied her. Kogami was somewhere in an ambulance receiving emergency treatment for his injuries, which at last word, were life threatening.

Abruptly, the driver’s side door opened, frightening her. With the same reckless energy of a windstorm, Kagari swooped in and sat down behind the steering wheel. “You ready, Akane? The ambulances are pulling out, and we’re going with them.” He started the car and released the brake.

“Kagari, do you even have a driver’s license?” Akane asked, wiping a tear from her cheek.

“Nope! And I don’t give a shit right now. I told Sachi I’d be there for her at the hospital, and I mean it. I’m not sitting in the back of the paddy wagon and leaving you alone right now.”

Wincing in pain from his own wounds, Masaoka raced through the downpour, opened the car door, and slipped into the backseat behind Kagari. “Can’t keep an old hunting dog down,” he said, smiling at her. “We’ve got your back, Inspector.” Wearing a blue Inspector’s field jacket, he shook the rain from the water-resistant shell before zipping up the windbreaker to conceal the bandages covering his great barreled chest.

Kagari scowled at the veteran in the rearview mirror. “How in the hell did you manage to score an Inspector’s jacket?”

“Under the circumstances, the delineation between our ranks doesn’t mean a damn thing. The one thought on my mind is the same one on hers: Kogami. Now follow that ambulance.” Masaoka tugged at the seatbelt and gingerly pulled it across his chest.

“What about the kids, Mr. Masaoka? Did you hear anything about their conditions?” Akane bowed her head and clasped her hands in her lap. She was cold and shivered beneath the blanket.

“They’re stable. Yemen is being treated with them. Inspector Takizawa decided to let him ride along in the same ambulance. He figured the kids would be better off with a face they knew, considering the situation.”

“Yemen wasn’t looking too great himself,” Kagari said.

“Four busted ribs and fluid build-up in both lungs,” Masaoka said. “He’ll be on the injured list for a good while.”

“Gin?” Akane whispered.

“Gin might have some residual physical effects, not to mention some mental stabilization problems. Hard to gauge a hue after what he’s been through.”

“Sachi?” Kagari asked, glancing over his shoulder.

“She took the worst of it, Shusei. Might lose one or both of her arms,” Masaoka replied sadly. “Doesn’t look good.”

White-knuckled on the steering wheel, Kagari groaned angrily, while trying to keep his attention on the road. “I’m going to kill that bastard.”

“Take a number.”

Wringing her hands, Akane stared into her lap. “And Kogami?”

“I won’t lie. It’s bad, Akane,” Masaoka whispered. “The puncture from the glass was deep and caused a lot of damage. All that running around didn’t help either. He lost a lot of blood, and not just what we could see. Ko’s been bleeding internally this whole time.”

For a moment, the only sound in the car cabin was the sound of the windshield wipers and the patter of the rain hitting the windshield. Akane felt the shifting momentum of deceleration and looked up to see the ambulance ahead of them as it pulled off the highway and stopped on the side of the road. Its emergency lights went dark, and the siren fell silent. “What are they doing?”

“That’s not a good sign,” Masaoka whispered.

“Not a good sign?” Akane piped. “What—what does that mean?” Not waiting for an answer, she tried to open the car door, but it was locked because the vehicle was still in motion. “Stop the car, Kagari!” she cried desperately as Kagari drove by the emergency vehicle. “Stop the car!”

“Akane! Wait!” Kagari said. He pulled off the road in front of the ambulance. “Akane? Grab her, pops!”

Ignoring both men as they called for her, Akane quickly jumped out of the car and ran back to the rear of the ambulance. The doors were locked, so she pounded and slapped at the door, beating her fists against them until one cracked open.

“Inspector?” a startled paramedic asked.

“Let me see him!” Akane demanded.

“Inspector, this isn’t a good time—”

“Let me see him!” she screamed. Standing in the pouring rain, her hair was soaked, slicked down against her forehead. “Kogami!”

“Inspector, please.” The paramedic jumped out of the cabin and wrapped a blanket about her. “Where’s your vehicle?”

“I’m not going anywhere until I see him.” She shoved him to the side and stared into the back of the ambulance. 

Kogami was lying on the only gurney in the cabin. Strapped down to a backboard, his head and neck were secured to the board to prevent any possible aggravation of a spinal injury. Facial features half hidden in a mist rising from an oxygen mask strapped to his face, his eyes were closed. 

A tangle of IV lines and wires snaked across his shoulders and the gurney mattress, which was bloody with his injuries. A light sheen of perspiration glistened on his pale skin, and his chest was covered with gauze and medical tape. Despite a pressure bandage, blood from the puncture wound in his lower torso trickled through, spotting on the surface. 

“Kogami?”

“Inspector, please,” the medic pleaded with her. “With all due respect.”

Akane glanced at the heart monitor. It indicated a flatline. To acknowledge the reading, a dull, monotonous tone of finality echoed throughout the cabin. “Kogami!” she screamed, even as the medic held her back, preventing her from jumping in the cabin. “Get your hands off of me! Kogami, answer me!”

“Inspector, calm yourself before your hue gets clouded! Someone help me with her!”

Remembering a martial arts technique that Kogami had taught her, Akane deftly stomped on the medic’s instep and then swept his other leg out from under him. With a twist of her hips, she brought him promptly down to the asphalt. 

“Kogami!” she screamed again, slapping her hands against the vehicle bed.

Heavy with exhaustion, the Enforcer’s eyes lethargically fluttered open. He blinked in confusion, focusing in on her. “Inspector?”

Akane raised her face to the sky and the rain in a silent prayer. Nearly collapsing, both from fear and relief, she climbed onto the bumper.

“Inspector, you can’t go in there.” Squinting against the rain and limping, the medic got up slowly. “Authorized personnel only.”

“Try and stop me, and HQ will be dispatching another ambulance for you.” Akane ducked into the cabin. She stared in Kogami’s eyes for a long moment and then kissed his forehead, leaving his face wet with rain and tears.

“We had to stop to readjust the heart monitor,” the paramedic said. “In our hurry to get moving, I didn’t have time to properly calibrate it.”

Kogami weakly pulled down the oxygen mask and reached for Akane’s hand. “Careful, Inspector,” he whispered, “I wouldn’t kick the tires right now. They’re a little flat.” 

Akane laughed softly to hide the emotion rising in her. She kissed the back of his hand and interlaced her fingers between his and held tight. “Not worried about the tires as long as the engine’s still running.”

“A joyride might be difficult, but I’m game, if you’re interested.”

“Shut up, and just give me the keys, okay?” Akane brushed the damp lock of hair from his face and kissed him passionately on the lips.

# # #

The Paradiso Mental Care and Stress Detoxification center was on red alert by general order of the Ministry of Welfare’s Public Safety Bureau. The 134-cell facility was home to some of Tokyo’s wealthiest latent criminals, whose crime coefficients exceeded a value of 300. 

“We have followed the CID’s directives to the letter, Inspector Ginoza,” Director Sakurai insisted. “What you’re suggesting just isn’t possible. The notion is not even within the realm of possibilities.”

Inspector Nobuchika Ginoza was in no mood for the slightest resistance to his authority. Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, he stared down at the hospital administrator in disdain. “Director Sakurai, five hours ago, I might have agreed with you. But within the span of those five hours, one MWPSB Inspector was abducted while on duty along with four Enforcers and four civilians, who were then systematically tortured. Until I am satisfied that Masato Roninn had nothing to do with it, he is a person of interest in my investigation.”

“Translation,” Inspector Ikuko said. “Lead us to the bastard right now.” Flipping the long bangs of her hair over her forehead, she leaned against the counter and scowled at Sakurai.

“Inspectors, please be reasonable,” Sakurai pleaded. He pointed to the security console behind the desk. The surveillance feed of Masato Roninn’s isolation cell was shown in real time. “The man is all but in a vegetative state.”

Chewing on her lip in frustration, Ikuko drew the Dominator from the holster at her back. “What Inspector Ginoza didn’t mention to you is that one of those civilians is dead.” She emphasized every syllable. “The other casualty is an Enforcer, who happened to belong to me. Now take us to the bastard’s cell before I hold you in contempt of an MWPSB directive.”

Hands trembling, the physician rubbed his hands across his bald head. Taking a handkerchief from his pocket, Sakurai then dabbed his forehead. “This way please.” He signaled to a pair of orderlies with stun batons to follow them. “I’ll have you know that this facility is state of the art. Our standards exceed or have set the bar for excellence in the mental health industry. While we are in a lockdown situation, a nerve agent can be introduced into any single cell, housing section, or the entire facility with one remote command.”

“There’s only one patient we’re interested in,” Ginoza sneered, “per the warrant.”

Director Sakurai sighed despondently. “Mr. Roninn has been with us for three months. During that time he’s been totally unresponsive.”

“You mean sedated because your staff was having difficulty with him” Ikuko argued. “How many of your staff were themselves sent to isolation cells after he meddled with their minds?”

“An unfortunate hazard of working in the field.”

“Unfortunate for who? Your facility’s reputation or the poor people whose hues he clouded?” Ikuko glared at the physician. “Don’t give me any of that bureaucratic bullshit!”

“Mistakes were made. They have since been corrected. Mr. Roninn hasn’t said a word to anyone. Not to staff. Not to his primary care physician. Not even to his sister.”

Sakurai led them down a separate corridor of rooms to a large cell at the end of the annex. Sitting on the corner of his cot, Masato Roninn rocked back and forth slowly in a rhythm playing only in his head. He was wearing a gray straight jacket, which forcibly crossed his arms over his body and tightly pressed them against his torso. A tangled mane of black hair swayed in and out of his face with each rocking motion.

“Mr. Roninn,” the director said through the intercom on the glass wall. “Mr. Roninn, I’m sorry to disturb you, but the MWPSB is here.” 

There was no reaction. 

As if vindicated by the lack of a response, Sakurai shrugged his shoulders and watched as Roninn continued rhythmically rocking. A trail of drool trickled from the corner of the former Inspector’s mouth and into his lap. 

“Mr. Roninn?”

Undeterred by the glass, Ikuko leveled the Dominator at Roninn. “I’m not getting a reading, Ginoza.”

“Open the cell!” Ginoza demanded.

“But Inspector—”

“Open the cell or you will not only face contempt charges, but obstruction as well, Director Sakurai.”

“We’ve no choice other than to comply,” Sakurai said to the orderlies. “Open it.” He stepped back as one of them slid his identification card through the scanner

The upper section of the glass divider slid upward, while the bottom half was drawn down into a groove in the floor. A potent stench wafted from the confines of the small cell into the narrow hallway. The foul odor of stale sweat, urine, and excrement quickly saturated the air. One of the orderlies fell ill immediately and vomited on the floor. Sakurai turned away, covering his mouth and nose with his handkerchief to shield himself from the smell.

Nose wrinkled in disgust, Ginoza took a moment to compose himself. He allowed his senses to adjust to the foulness, even as Ikuko remained resolute. His fellow Inspector stood squinting against the stench with her finger on the Dominator’s trigger. 

The single light source in the small room flickered erratically. Between each shift between light and shadow, like an old reel of film, Roninn vanished and then returned. Eventually, the light failed, revealing that the image sitting on the bed was nothing more than a hologram, and the small, spartan space of the cell was a ruin. 

“Care to explain this, Director Sakurai?” Ginoza asked.

“This—this is impossible!”

The cell walls were severely damaged with whole sections gouged out of the concrete. Claw marks raked the soiled paint, which hung in tattered strips, as if a wild animal had attempted to dig its way to freedom. Streaks of blood, urine, and feces smeared the white paint with profane graffiti and the ravings of madness. 

What little furniture there was in the room was broken into pieces and strewn across the floor. Bent out of shape, sections of the bed frame were driven into the walls and stuck out of it like spikes on the back of a dinosaur’s corpse.

“I’m calling for reinforcements,” Ikuko said. “We need to lock down this entire section of the city.”

Ginoza threw his hand up to stop her. “Don’t bother. Roninn’s long gone. Call headquarters. Double the reinforcements at the Kurosawa Estate. Who do we have at the hospital with the civilian survivors?”

“Divison 10’s Inspector Takizawa, their Enforcers, and Enforcer Kagari.”

“Warn them. They’re to stay put until more MWPSB personnel can arrive.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Inspector Ginoza,” Sakurai gasped. The physician leaned against the back wall for support and to get away from the pungent scent rolling out of the ruined isolation cell. “I can assure you, none of my staff—”

Ginoza silenced him with an icy glare. “The less you say now will be to your benefit, Dr. Sakurai.” Activating his wristcom, he dialed into MWPSB headquarters. “Shion, this is Inspector Ginoza. Lockdown the entire Ministry of Welfare building on my authority.”

“Shit’s really hit the fan, eh, Inspector? I’m one step ahead of you. Every serviceable security drone at our disposal is on active duty at every building entrance.”

“No one in or out unless they have MWPSB credentials, Shion. All available Enforcers are to be armed and directed to the medical bay to secure the protection of Inspector Tsunemori and Enforcer Kogami.”

“Masaoka is down there, too. Consider it as good as done, Inspector,” Shion said. The link went dark as she signed off.

Covering his nose with the cuff of his sleeve, Ginoza stepped into the isolation cell. He was careful not to tread on any of the broken furniture or other scattered debris on the floor. Every speck was a potential piece of evidence. His eyes stung from the pungent presence of spoiled food and urine. As he crossed the threshold, it was an unearthly feeling like stepping from one world into another. He would have faltered in that moment and returned to the corridor had it not been for something he saw on the back wall of the cell.

Written in blood, there was a message in an elaborate script: _The wolf knows not that he is a wolf, until the sheep reject him, and the shepherd tells him so._ Below the message, less elegantly rendered, were the words: _See you soon, Shinya._


End file.
